Plus, Bitcoin rebounded, Southwest Airlines CEO Kelly will step down next year, and GlaxoSmithKline is spinning off its consumer products business to focus on reviving its drug unit.
Stocks were slightly higher at the open on Wednesday with the Dow trading just above the flatline. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both added less than 0.1%.
Amazon’s sales during its 48-hour Prime Day event appear to have surpassed record levels of e-commerce spending reached during last year’s Cyber Monday event. Adobe Analytics said total e-commerce sales during the event surpassed $11 billion, representing 6.1% growth from October’s Prime Day event, with sales of $5.6 billion on Monday and $5.4 billion on Tuesday. “There’s a pent up demand for online shopping as consumers look forward to a return to normalcy,” said Taylor Schreiner, director of Adobe Digital insights. “The halo effect of Prime Day also played a significant role, giving both large and small online retailers significant revenue lifts.”
Bitcoin rebounded as high as $34,818.60 this morning after falling below the $30,000 threshold yesterday, briefly erasing all of its 2021 gains. Still, the whipsaw over the last two days signals “that Bitcoin traders could find themselves in choppy waters for weeks to come,” said Sean Rooney, head of research at crypto asset manager Valkyrie Investments. Trade The Chain research analyst Nick Mancini said, “Bitcoin’s continued sell-off has contributed to a negative outlook by traders driven by bearish news out of China. The mood among traders is now continuing to sour.”
Southwest Airlines said CEO and chairman Gary Kelly will step down as the carrier’s chief executive on February 1, 2022 and will be replaced by company veteran Robert Jordan next year. Kelly will continue to hold the role of executive chairman until “at least” 2026, the company said. “Succession planning is one of the most important jobs of a CEO, and it’s something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about and working on with our Board of Directors for several years,” Kelly said in a note to employees. “I’m not going anywhere, though. My focus will be business and fleet strategies, governmental and airport affairs, and leading the Board of Directors.”
GlaxoSmithKline announced a new strategy for the next decade focused on the splitting off of the company’s substantial consumer products arm in an effort to revive its lagging drug business. The separation is expected to happen in mid-2022, and the new drug and vaccine division—which CEO Emma Walmsley has dubbed “New GSK”—has set targets of 5% sales growth and 10% profit growth through 2026. “This growth is all about a quality vaccines and specialty medicines portfolio, and that is really core to the strategy of New GSK, being focused on prevention of disease as well as treatment,” Walmsley said. “It’s about setting out New GSK as a growth company with new ambitions for shareholders, but also our chance to impact positively the health of 2.5 billion people over the next decade.”
And Peloton customers are outraged after the company disabled the “Just Run” setting on its high-end Tread+ treadmill, forcing users to pay an extra $39.99 per month just to use the treadmill without a membership. A Peloton spokesperson said that the company will be waiving three months of membership fees for all Tread+ owners as it works on another update to bring back the “Just Run” feature. “We understand that this is an inconvenience for some and are working on updates to Tread Lock that will allow us to make Tread Lock and Just Run available without a Peloton Membership,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
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VivoPower International Plc (NASDAQ: VVPR): VivoPower announced yesterday that it has entered into a binding Letter of Intent with Toyota Motor Corporation Australia Limited to create a collaboration program between VivoPower and Toyota Australia for electrification of Toyota Landcruiser vehicles using conversion kits designed and manufactured by VivoPower’s wholly-owned electric vehicle subsidiary, Tembo e-LV B.V. “We are extremely pleased to be collaborating with Toyota Motor Corporation Australia, part of the world’s largest original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) on the electrification of their Landcruiser vehicles with our Tembo conversion kits,” Kevin Chin, Executive Chairman and CEO of VivoPower, said in a press release. “The Landcruiser is the vehicle of choice worldwide for mining and other ruggedized industries. This partnership with Toyota Australia is a testament to the outstanding potential of Tembo’s technology to decarbonize transportation in some of the world’s toughest and hardest to decarbonize industries. More importantly, it is a tremendous opportunity for us to work directly with Toyota Australia to optimize the Tembo product and deliver it to more customers around the world, helping them to achieve their net zero carbon objectives in the process.”