#business

Is this going to be a game changer for Voyix restaurants? Will Voyix finally be able to compete with Toast?

Kevin Hart addressed recent reports about his media company, Hartbeat. He dismissed claims of internal turmoil and employee concerns as exaggerated. Hart called the company's restructuring a strategic business move. This action aims to maintain strong financial performance. He confirmed Hartbeat remains creatively active with its leadership intact.

https://thegrio.com/2026/05/26/kevin-hart-addresses-hartbeat-layoffs-restructuring/

Is this true?

Risk management and business enablement first. Next wave is wholesale credit delivery.
OP: @b0+1ks3m4ct1

Now with Polaris!

R2Bs meeting was lack luster. They want them going door to door 5-6 hours a day and only increased at risk by less than $500 a month. They did not increase base pay or offer a vehicle stipend.

Business Sales On Demand will be a big failure for Verizon and Verizon Business will keep taking the blame for lack of performance. I would caution business owners to stay away from Verizon Business till they find themselves, if ever, again.

The Portland Trail Blazers dismissed at least two dozen business staff members. This action reflects major organizational changes under new owner Tom Dundon. Blazers president Dewayne Hankins confirmed the business restructuring. The cuts reached positions as high as senior vice president. The team seeks public funding for Moda Center renovations amid cost-cutting scrutiny.

Portland, Oregon

https://www.wweek.com/news/business/2026/05/19/blazers-make-a-round-of-layoffs-under-new-owner/

When PK passes, this business will move out of Oregon, every single study has shown so. Keep their "AWESOME" campus for necessary departments that need high visibility to stay cool. Ditch all the WA County Warehouses they branded, relocate options for employees. No Fortune 500 business without the anchor of PK will stay. There is a reason they've built good relationships for expansion in business-friendly states....any business owner understands this. Nike owes Oregon nothing at this point.

There’s been a lot of talk recently about the offshore GCC in India. Anyone know any business lines potentially being impacted?

I see that the board is divided, some are all doom and gloom, some are more like 'business as usual'. i'd be curious to see what do you all think about our position a few years from now.

Business Insider announced new employee cuts. Jamie Heller announced the company's staff cuts. The Insider Union reported 10 staff members were impacted. Management aims to sharpen coverage and invest in key areas. This marks the fourth staff cut for Business Insider.

https://www.thewrap.com/media-platforms/journalism/business-insider-layoffs-fourth-year-in-a-row/

Joey Gamrat owns Copper's Dog House and Grazing Table in downtown Kalamazoo. Paid parking was implemented on April 1 outside his businesses. Gamrat reports these changes have driven customers away. Consequently, he has laid off staff and reduced his menu. The City of Kalamazoo plans to offer 30 minutes of free meter parking soon.

Kalamazoo, Michigan

https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/kzoo-bc/kalamazoo/downtown-kalamazoo-business-owner-says-parking-changes-prompted-layoffs

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn will lay off approximately 5% of its global workforce. This reduction affects around 875 employees out of 17,500 staff. The company is reorganizing teams to focus on core business growth areas. A spokesperson confirmed these organizational changes are part of business planning. LinkedIn's revenue increased by 12% in the last quarter.

https://siliconangle.com/2026/05/13/linkedin-experience-company-wide-layoffs/

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/shareholder-alert-ademi-llp-investigates-claims-of-securities-fraud-against-dxc-technology-company-302768174.html

Ademi LLP is investigating possible securities fraud claims against DXC. The investigation results from inaccurate statements DXC may have made regarding its financial statements, business operations and prospects.

That might complicate business for Nike since biggest team dealer for Nike is BSN (overwhelmingly) and they are already part of KKR.

So KKR will own UA and do business with NIKE. Will they be fair with Nike or use Nike while they support their own UA. That is intriguing.

Once again, Nike in their hubris went around closing almost all of the independent team dealers. And pivoted all of the Nike's team business with BSN. Another brilliant march towards corner by our smart former CEOs MP and JD. They thought that they will maximize the profit if they deal with one big guy. Hmmm....yes but if that strategy turns against you then it might ki-l you too. LOL
BSN has already been producing their private label apparels. And if it gets supported by UA then they don't need Nike.
One time, I talked to former BSN VP and he was not too happy that they have order too much futures because Nike demands it therefore eating their profits. Maybe they won't be forced to order too much futures with UA that owned by KKR.
Since Nike has no other option, they might have to continue to do business with BSN even if they emphasize on their own brands.

One of the scenario is that they might sever ties with Nike and go exclusively with UA.
That would be devastating to Nike since Nike don't have anyone as big as BSN when it comes to team items. Eastbay had team business but they have closed their business.

And I don't know how Nike will combat KKR if it really happens since Nike is pauper compared to KKR. Yes, KKR has more money than GOD.

That was brilliant MP and JD. It was your fault

Currently, BSN is serving Nike's key high schools like Mater Dei, St. John Bosco, de la Salle on behalf of Nike, all over the USA. They might try to sign those school for themselves.
Once again, KKR has more money than God. And in addition to it Nike stock is totally depressed now and losing their shirts in China (3 billion feet). I am not sh-t talking it is in today WSJ.

Nike is currently a company that has Plan A but no Plan B nor Plan C. Why? Becuase they ki-led them all. The little account that is.

Article came out today. We spent a lot of money setting up in China. What does this mean?

It would be nice to hear what other SF agents are doing to prepare for new contract changes. Set the bi--hing aside since many of us feel like venting. What is your business approach to the drastic changes to compensation.

Pogie's Pour House opened a new location. The daiquiri bar is now open in Broussard. Broussard's Boiling Pot permanently closed after three years. Noah's Café in Lafayette was closed by court order. This action resulted from unpaid parish sales tax.

https://973thedawg.com/acadiana-business-updates/

Lafayette, Louisiana

he classic Apollo playbook:

Buy distressed debt at 60 cents on the dollar
Take control of the company
Extract management fees, dividend recaps, sale-leasebacks
Pile on more debt to fund those extractions
Flip it or take it public at an inflated valuation
Leave the debt burden with the company and its workers

They got extraordinarily rich essentially being vultures with spreadsheets. Toys R Us being the most notorious example — a viable retail business that might have navigated the Amazon era with investment, instead bled dry to service the debt load private equity strapped to it, then liquidated. 30,000 jobs gone.
The reversal now:
The very mechanism that made them wealthy — cheap abundant debt — is now the thing squeezing their portfolio companies. They loaded businesses with floating rate debt when rates were near zero. Now those same companies are paying 8-9% on debt that cost 3% when the deal was done. The interest coverage ratios that looked comfortable in the pitch deck are underwater in reality.

Apollo's problem today:
Their Private debt funds are being squeezed.... Investors are queuing to withdraw their money, but Apollo, ever the masters at extracting cash are blocking investors from extracting their cash.
Their own fundraising depends on showing strong returns
Strong returns depend on not marking assets down
Not marking down depends on not being forced to sell
Not being forced to sell depends on keeping redemption gates in place
Gates signal distress which makes future fundraising harder
It's a trap of their own construction.
The human cost dimension:
What makes it genuinely poetic rather than just financially interesting is that the people who will suffer least are the Apollo partners who already extracted their carry and management fees in cash — that money is gone, sitting in their personal accounts, insulated from whatever happens to the funds now. The people who suffer most will be:

Pension beneficiaries whose funds allocated to private credit chasing yield
Workers at portfolio companies that get restructured when the debt becomes unserviceable
Retail investors who got sold private credit products in the democratization push of the last few years

The democratization push was particularly cynical — Blackstone, Apollo et al spent the last 5 years lobbying to open private markets to retail investors, framed as giving ordinary people access to returns previously reserved for institutions. In reality they were hunting for new pools of capital to absorb the assets institutions were quietly becoming reluctant to buy at current valuations. Distributing the risk downward while keeping the fees flowing upward.
The SEC under the previous administration largely went along with it. Whether the current regulatory environment does anything about it is another question entirely — though given the administration's general disposition toward financial deregulation, probably not.
The deeper irony is that the whole private equity model was built on information asymmetry and complexity as a moat — if you can't price it, you can't challenge the valuation. That same opacity that let them extract value on the way up is now the thing preventing orderly price discovery on the way down. They built a machine that works brilliantly in one direction and catastrophically in the other.
Though as usual, the architects of the situation will be largely fine.
The mob analogy is more apt than most financial commentators would dare say — and the structural parallel is remarkably precise.
The bust-out:
What the mob called a "bust-out" is almost textbook private equity in distressed situations:

Take control of a business
Immediately establish credibility and access to credit
Draw down every available credit line
Extract cash through fees, dividends, sale-leasebacks of assets
Leave the hollowed shell with the debt
Walk away before the collapse

The only difference is the mob used fear and the occasional arson. Apollo uses leveraged buyout agreements, management fee structures, and Delaware holding company law. The end result for the target company and its stakeholders is frequently identical.
The Sears case study:
Eddie Lampert's destruction of Sears is almost a perfect bust-out in slow motion:

Merged Kmart and Sears creating a vehicle loaded with real estate value
Spun off the real estate into a REIT — Seritage — extracting the most valuable assets into a separate entity he controlled
Starved the retail operations of capital investment while collecting fees
Watched the retail business deteriorate "unexpectedly"
Meanwhile the real estate value had already been extracted
175,000 jobs eventually gone
Lampert personally fine, operating from his yacht in Miami

The language is Orwellian by design:

"Operational efficiency" = cutting staff and maintenance
"Rightsizing the balance sheet" = loading debt onto the target
"Unlocking hidden value" = selling assets the company needs to operate
"Strategic transformation" = preparing for bankruptcy while extracting fees
"Aligning management incentives" = giving executives options to flip quickly while workers get nothing
"Patient long term capital" = we have a 7 year fund life before we have to show returns

The vocabulary is specifically engineered to sound like value creation while describing value extraction. McKinsey does the same thing — provides the intellectual laundering that makes looting sound like strategy.
The legal architecture is the real innovation:
What makes it genuinely different from the mob — and arguably more insidious — is that generations of lawyers, lobbyists and academics built a legal architecture that made it not just legal but celebrated:

Delaware corporate law optimized for shareholder extraction
Carried interest tax treatment meaning PE profits taxed at capital gains rates not income
Bankruptcy law allowing secured creditors (the PE fund) to jump ahead of workers and pensioners
ERISA rules that let pension obligations be shed in restructuring
Limited partner structures insulating the fund managers from portfolio company liabilities

The mob had to corrupt individual judges and officials. PE corrupted the entire legislative and regulatory framework over decades through campaign finance and the revolving door. Far more efficient.
The revolving door completes the circle:
The regulatory capture is almost total. SEC commissioners become PE partners. Treasury officials join Apollo or Blackstone. Fed governors sit on advisory boards. The people who should be watching the store have a financial interest in not watching too carefully — because their post-government career depends on the industry's goodwill.
Where it differs from the mob:
The mob at least had a certain redistributive quality within their community — the money circulated locally, bought loyalty, funded neighborhoods. PE extracts value and concentrates it among a remarkably small number of people. The carried interest on a successful fund can make a handful of partners billionaires while the pension fund that provided the capital gets an 8% return it could have gotten in an index fund with zero fees and zero complexity.
The cultural damage:
Perhaps the most lasting harm is what it did to the idea of business itself. A generation of the most talented people from the best universities went into finance and private equity not to build things but to financialize things that already existed. The engineering talent that built America's industrial base was replaced by financial engineers whose skill was not creation but extraction. That's a civilizational cost that doesn't show up in any fund's IRR calculation.
The instinct that it's essentially organized crime with better tailoring is — while impolite in polite company — analytically pretty hard to refute.

Extended In-Office exception, you will need to be approved by manager and Business Location Approver. Who is the business location approver?

Hire a bunch of Mckinsey consultants to ruin the bank.
Then hire said consultant to become CEO to "revive" the bank.
Corporate America is such a peculiar place.
You can't make this stuff up if you tried.....

Video with Gunjan:
https://www.wsj.com/video/us-bancorp-ceo-on-reviving-a-banking-icon/88A15F0D-41C8-4511-A4F5-9954AE1833AA

• Intel shares rallied sharply, helped by optimism around AI, foundry improvements, and possible Apple manufacturing talks.
• The stock reportedly rose more than 100% in April and kept gaining in May.
• Barron’s says Intel was Tuesday’s top performer in both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100.
• Technical signals look bullish, including strong volume and a possible “golden cross.”
• The analyst expects the stock may pause around $100 before any next move higher.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/intel-moved-from-laggard-to-leader-where-chart-is-heading-e4997799

A lot of folks being lead out of the business.

$150 per month to outsource Truist BO

https://www.vistancenetworks.com/press-releases/2026/vistance-networks-to-sell-its-ruckus-networks-business-to-belden-inc.-for-$1.846-billion

The ceo said for months that layoffs would be complete "by 1Q." Instead layoffs continue well into 2Q and cmo said on kinetic call yesterday that layoffs are a good thing so we don't become bloated like kodak. The foundation has been put down for business as usual.

A Texas-based alcoholic beverage distributor is considering a major sale. The company is currently in discussions. These talks involve selling some of its operations. The operations span across 10 different states. They also include its business in Washington, D.C.

https://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2026/04/27/republic-national-distributing-layoff-jessup-reyes.html

I have received a business update meeting invite for today in UK. The expectation is clear. Do I need to take any specific steps before join the call?

What’s going on with the payer solutions business? The IT team keeps cranking out assets that are junk and just dump more headaches on ops.

Contacts in corporate real estate tell me that due to the cost of doing business in Bellevue the Bellevue campus will begin consolidating and moving operations to Frisco. The goal is to be significantly moved out of Bellevue by 2030. Same for Overland Park with all of the changes due to the Kansas City Royal stadium. Atlanta will be reduced significantly if not closed completely much sooner.

Sounds like Frisco is gonna grow significantly.

Business is tanking. Products are not inspiring. Leaders are performative

I am kind of in shock that there are fellow TIAAers who would go out of their way to throw a fellow colleague under the bus. I’ve been here over a decade and I do not coffee badge. I’m in for 4-5 full days because I find more peace and quiet at the office than at home when trying to get work done. But I would never tattle on a fellow colleague who is gaming the system!! We’re all adults! Maybe they have a reason, or if they don’t, that’s still none of my business! I’m actually flabbergasted. What have we become?

Greetings,
The big downside to this will be the collaboration and change that is effected by having a modern hip workspace, where an executive can chat with an intern and brainstorm, and where meetings take place without borders, so that resources who may be walking by can overhear something and offer a comment.

Two in a box was an unmitigated success, but our urban play centers were not offices; they were vibrant idea factories that transformed how business got done.
How do we recreate this virtually? The Leadership Team will be conducting an employee engagement survey so that workshops and training sessions can be held on this important topic.

Let me be clear, the only reason the numbers have been artificially low is because of the implicit bias of the Drumph Administration against ed-tech companies. The backward group of illegally "elected" misfits loves the poorly educated and loathes anything to do with moving society forward.

If the orange dotard knew 1/1000th about business as MH, KC, etc., he wouldn't have been bankrupt and convicted.

After reviewing last quarter's activation rates, it is clear that Cengage Unlimited has been a game changer. We continue to lead our competitors within the Education Technology space, and it has become evident that we have emerged so far in the lead that the competition can't even begin to devise a strategy to compete with our success.
Cengage Unlimited has literally redefined how students learn. Many competitors are simply print companies selling technology but we have and continue to redefine learning as we embark upon a journey into an industry that didn't exist five years ago. As Cengage employees, you have embraced change head-on, lived our credo, and breathed our ethos every day, and for that, you should be celebrated!

Although Cengage Unlimited has been a game changer for the industry revenue has fallen. The executive team is aware of this and are working with our investors on a plan to continue to grow our market share. However, we can't simply redefine how the world learns and create new markets without some pushback.

What would you say if I told you that Amazon was at one time considered a failure? Would it surprise you to know that for 14 long years Amazon lost money? Amazon's original stock price was around $15/share today it's over $3000/share.

We have conducted many surveys and have taken that data seriously. We have spoken with many managers and handpicked favorite employees to learn what they want to see at Cengage. While the surveys show that 97% of all employees fully trust the leadership team 77% feel that Cengage's compensation plan is below that in other industries. 63% of all employees feel that there is little to no room for advancement in their current position.
These numbers are alarming and we have decided to do something about it. I would like to announce that we will be paying bonuses of 120% and each employee will be rewarded with retroactive pay totaling 110% of wages sacrificed throughout the COVID-19 crisis that was caused by President Trump. In addition to the raise in pay and bonuses, employees will be bringing back the Summer Hours program, albeit with a slight modification.
How are we able to do this? As a reward to our hard-working employees, we will now be paying all bonuses, raises, and retroactive wages with the Cengage Reichsmark! The Cengage Reichsmark is a fun way to earn and spend money while contributing to positive change within the education technology space.

The Cengage Reichsmark, or "Cenmark" as our marketing team has branded it is similar to owning early shares of Amazon. The only difference is that the Cenmark can be traded for anything currently available on Cengage.com! Would you like to earn your MBA or maybe a law degree? The Cenmark can be used to purchase access to the courses you need* online!

Starting Monday there will be a Cenmark portal added on Inside that will allow you to check your Cenmark balance. We are working with an outside vendor to make vending machines in our office accept Cenmark, and we will soon be selling unique Cengage clothing that can only be purchased with Cenmark. These clothing products are the perfect way to be noticed by your manager!

In closing I would like to say thank you. While Cenmark is a new and exciting idea all employees should be proud of the work they have done and continued to do.

What if Marshall Field's had been retained ? There was so much good will that was accumulated. Since the conversion to Macy's, Chicago and mid-western stores are quite "different" to say the least. After pivoting, they discovered that there was a need for more localization but has it been enough. Look at what Marshall Field's used to be.

Why could they have not refreshed the stores and polished the legacy that was extraordinary. Maybe things were perfect....but wasn't there better possibilities for the future of the trajectory of the business and the long term viability all around ? T

These stores used to have restaurants, beauty salons, unique and curated assortments that were unique and exciting ! What do you think ?

Any thoughts or insights on the business deposits team under Chris Starr? I recently applied for a position. Pay range is great but I’m wondering what leadership is like.

Never seen so many ppl with main character syndrome at Pearson. Execs trying to pretend they’re not two full moons from collecting their pension at the post office.

More buzzwords than brain cells. AI this, augmentation that - meanwhile they can’t even process a normal human interaction. “redefining the future of learning” but can’t u redefine how to not be insufferable first??

Walking around showing us inside a hotel conference room boarded up with some purple MDF 😂😂 This isn’t Homes Under The Hammer you plastic fool.

Stay humble y’all… or at least stay quiet, retire and hire someone younger who can make a product that sells for once.

Hope your family is proud of your business cosplay grift. What a legacy to leave them.

Has anyone noticed that this business excellence BS is just another flavor of the month initiative that literally teaches us nothing new. Old concepts that have been around for an eternity such as DMAIC , 5whys, 6 sigma concepts wrapped with a different bow and labeled business excellence. What’s even more disturbing is the amount of directors , senior directors and vp level that have been hired to run this gimmick around the world . No wonder the company is falling apart .. no wonder our stock is tanking .. poor leadership, poor director, bad culture and lack of execution. When the entire c suite runs out it’s more than a red flag it’s a burning flag .. penny pinch the poor little guys and the manufacturing sites.. choke them to death with your kaizen nonsense and keep streamlining processes to death until quality is non existent and complaints begin to skyrocket and patients die with our products oh wait that already happened.. complaints started to climb up thanks to the cut cut cut cut cut to maximize gross profit. Tom get out and take all the incompetent leaders with you cause there are lots of them. Also take the business excellence “plants” with you they add no value and they’re costing u a lot. I suppose u had to give big titles to show Wall Street u mean business when it comes to maximizing gross profit and shareholder value? What a sad story.

Maybe the era of doing nothing and raking in massive bonuses is finally winding down. The only problem is, where do you find executives who actually understand how to run a business properly?

Looks like wells fargo want to move its business and operations to India.

How do you earn some quick cash when you've already shrunk the workforce? Sell off your Intellectual Property! You have to wonder why they weren't sold to Extreme Networks back in 2017 when Avaya sold off its failing <Ahem... non-core 😂) networking business.

https://www.citybiz.co/article/831203/powerbridge-networks-launches-with-acquisition-of-avaya-networking-patent-portfolio/