Goldman began holding its “Talks at GS” a few years ago as an informal interview series for employees. More

Kohl’s named Michael Bender its permanent CEO.
Bender is the third CEO the department store has had in three years, and the move comes after the company fire ex-CEO Ashley Buchanan only a few months into his tenure.
The chain’s sales have been declining.

Kohl’s said Monday that Michael Bender, who has served as its interim CEO, will become its permanent chief executive as the department store tries to get back to sales growth.
He becomes the third CEO for the department store in about three years. The move is effective as of Sunday.

Bender, who has been director of Kohl’s board since July 2019, became the company’s interim CEO in May. The retailer appointed Bender to the position after firing CEO Ashley Buchanan after just a few months into his tenure.
Kohl’s fired Buchanan after it said a company investigation found that he had pushed for deals with a vendor with whom he had a personal relationship. That person was Chandra Holt, a former retail executive who had a romantic relationship with Buchanan.
Kohl’s leadership announcement comes a day before the retailer reports fiscal third-quarter earnings. Along with leadership turmoil, Kohl’s has struggled with declining sales. The company said in August that it expects net sales to drop by 5% to 6% for the fiscal year.
Kohl’s has had many changes at the top since former CEO Michelle Gass left the company in 2022 to join Levi Strauss & Co., where she later succeeded then-CEO Chip Bergh. She was followed at Kohl’s by Tom Kingsbury, a then-board member of the company, who became interim and then permanent CEO.

Michael Bender named Kohl’s Interim CEO.
Courtesy: Kohl’s

Bender, 64, previously held leadership and management roles at retailers including Victoria’s Secret, Walmart and Eyemart Express. Along with his role as CEO, Bender will continue to serve on the company’s board.

In a news release, board chair John Schlifske said Kohl’s hired an external firm and “conducted a comprehensive search” for the retailer’s new leader. He said Bender is the right person for the job because of his “three decades of leadership experience across retail and consumer goods companies and a deep commitment to the Kohl’s brand.”
“Over the past several months as interim CEO, Michael has proven to be an exceptional leader for Kohl’s – progressively improving results, driving short and long-term strategy, and positively impacting cultural change,” he said.
In a CNBC interview, Bender described Kohl’s turnaround as “heading toward close to the middle innings.”
“For me, that’s a good thing, because it means there’s still good work to be done, and ideas and challenges to bring forward to solve,” he said.
At Kohl’s, he said customers have “a lot of excitement,” but also “a more discerning, choiceful attitude about the dollars they spend.”
“What they’re looking for from retailers is curating assortment for me of quality products at a value that compels me to either get off the couch, or if I want to stay on the couch, to get on my phone and and order from you because they signify value for me,” he said.
Over the past five years, Kohl’s shares have fallen by about 53%. So far this year, its stock is up nearly 12%.
— CNBC’s Courtney Reagan contributed to this report More

Virgin Orbit is again extending its unpaid pause in operations to continue pursuing a lifeline investment, CEO Dan Hart told employees in a company-wide email.
Some of the company’s late-stage deal talks, including with private investor Matthew Brown, collapsed over the weekend, people familiar with the matter told CNBC.
“Our investment discussions have been very dynamic over the past few days, they are ongoing, and not yet at a stage where we can provide a fulsome update,” Hart wrote in an email to employees, which was viewed by CNBC.

NEWQUAY, ENGLAND – JANUARY 09: A general view of Cosmic Girl, a Boeing 747-400 aircraft carrying the LauncherOne rocket under its left wing, as final preparations are made at Cornwall Airport Newquay on January 9, 2023 in Newquay, United Kingdom. Virgin Orbit launches its LauncherOne rocket from the spaceport in Cornwall, marking the first ever orbital launch from the UK. The mission has been named Start Me Up after the Rolling Stones hit. (Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)
Matthew Horwood | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Virgin Orbit is again extending its unpaid pause in operations to continue pursuing a lifeline investment, CEO Dan Hart told employees in a company-wide email.
Some of the company’s late-stage deal talks, including with private investor Matthew Brown, collapsed over the weekend, people familiar with the matter told CNBC.

Hart previously planned to update employees on the company’s operational status at an all-hands meeting at 4:30 p.m. ET on Monday afternoon, according to an email sent to employees Sunday night. At the last minute, that meeting was rescheduled “for no later than Thursday,” Hart said in the employee memo Monday.
“Our investment discussions have been very dynamic over the past few days, they are ongoing, and not yet at a stage where we can provide a fulsome update,” Hart wrote in the email to employees, which was viewed by CNBC.
Brown told CNBC’s “Worldwide Exchange” last week he was in final discussions to invest in the company. A person familiar with the terms told CNBC the investment would have amounted to $200 million and granted Brown a controlling stake. But discussions between Virgin Orbit and the Texas-based investor stalled and broke down late last week, a person familiar told CNBC. As of Saturday those discussions had ended, the person said.
Separately, another person said talks with a different potential buyer broke down on Sunday night.
The people asked to remain anonymous to discuss private negotiations. A representative for Virgin Orbit declined to comment.

Hart promised Virgin Orbit’s over 750 employees “daily” updates this week. Most of the staff remain on an unpaid furlough that Hart announced on Mar. 15. Last week, a “small” team of Virgin Orbit employees returned to work in what Hart described as the “first step” in an “incremental resumption of operations,” with the intention of preparing a rocket for the company’s next launch.
Virgin Orbit’s stock closed at 54 cents a share on Monday, having fallen below $1 a share after the company’s pause in operations.

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Virgin Orbit developed a system that uses a modified 747 jet to send satellites into space by dropping a rocket from under the aircraft’s wing mid-flight. But the company’s last mission suffered a mid-flight failure, with an issue during the launch causing the rocket to not reach orbit and crash into the ocean.
The company has been looking for new funds for several months, with majority owner Sir Richard Branson unwilling to fund the company further.
Virgin Orbit was spun out of Branson’s Virgin Galactic in 2017 and counts the billionaire as its largest stakeholder, with 75% ownership. Mubadala, the Emirati sovereign wealth fund, holds the second-largest stake in Virgin Orbit, at 18%.
The company hired bankruptcy firms to draw up contingency plans in the event it is unable to find a buyer or investor. Branson has first priority over Virgin Orbit’s assets, as the company raised $60 million in debt from the investment arm of Virgin Group.
On the same day that Hart told employees that Virgin Orbit was pausing operations, its board of directors approved a “golden parachute” severance plan for top executives, in case they are terminated “following a change in control” of the company.

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Consumers continue to stock up on pantry products, despite the fact that the states are focused on reopening their economies, Campbell Soup CEO Mark Clouse told CNBC’s Jim Cramer Monday. Campbell’s saw sales spike more than 50% during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic and sales across the board, including in its Pepperidge Farms and Snyder’s […] More

WORK AND shopping have, for better or worse, been permanently altered by the pandemic. The airline industry hopes that its own covid-19 disruption proves temporary. Luckily for those deprived of holidays, visits to family and friends, or even the odd business trip, flying in 2022 will look a bit more like the pre-pandemic jet age—with differences between domestic and international routes, short-haul and long-haul ones, and east and west.The numbers taking to the skies have risen steadily since March 2020, when the pandemic first grounded flights. Most forecasters expect that by 2024 as many passengers will fly as did in 2019. IATA, a trade body, reckons that 3.4bn people will buckle up in 2022. That is nearly double the number in 2020, though still some way shy of 2019, when 4.5bn took to the air.Uncertainties remain, however, not least the pandemic. Consider the Omicron variant. Ed Bastian, boss of America’s Delta Air Lines, has described navigating the past few weeks as “hellacious”, after some 8,000 of his staff, about 10% of the total, contracted the virus. Crew shortages, tighter travel restrictions and bad weather conspired to force the cancellation of 60,000 flights worldwide between December 24th and January 3rd, calculates Cirium, an aviation-data firm. That corresponds to roughly one in every 40 flights. The fact that the worst Christmas period for a decade still made December the busiest month of 2021 illustrates just how far the industry has to go.Covid-19’s unpredictable course shows that even bright spots can cloud over. Large domestic markets, unaffected by international travel bans and other unco-ordinated border restrictions over vaccinations and testing, have led the recovery. Within America, the world’s biggest internal market, demand for seats has nudged above 80% of pre-covid levels. In China it has exceeded pre-covid times on occasions over the past year, thanks in part to the country’s strict “zero-covid” strategy. Although lockdowns to snuff out recent outbreaks in the run-up to the Winter Olympics in Beijing next month have slapped the chock blocks back on, China’s aviation regulator still expects domestic traffic at around 85% of pre-pandemic levels in 2022.The plans for restoring capacity among the world’s airlines give a sense of the likely shape of improvement on international routes, which IATA predicts will reach only 44% of pre-crisis demand this year. Some low-cost airlines serving short-haul connections in America and Europe, where travel restrictions may soon be relaxed, could surpass pre-covid capacity, reckons IBA, another aviation-research firm. America’s big three network carriers will also benefit from the reopening of the lucrative transatlantic market, which this year is expected to bounce back to where it was in 2019. Delta will approach pre-covid capacity in 2022, and United may exceed it. Some of Europe’s legacy airlines may benefit, too. IAG, owner of British Airways, is expected to restore all of its flights across the Atlantic by summer 2022.Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region are likeliest to remain stuck. Many governments, relying on isolation to control the virus, have toughened already strict travel rules to contain Omicron. Capacity is still around 60% below previous highs. Singapore Airlines will run at half of its pre-covid capacity for at least the first couple of months of 2022; Australia’s Qantas may operate at just 45% this year.Even if Omicron were the last of covid, airlines have other things weighing them down. As Andrew Charlton of Aviation Advocacy, a consultancy, notes, governments have doused beleaguered airlines with cash to keep them aloft. Much of that—around $110bn, says IATA—needs to be paid back. And that is on top of new debts owed to private-sector creditors. Moreover, so long as demand remains weak airlines will find it hard to pass the rising cost of fuel on to passengers. The industry’s net losses will narrow from the staggering $138bn in 2020 and $52bn in 2021. Collectively, airlines are expected to lose another $12bn this year. Better—but hardly stellar. ■For more expert analysis of the biggest stories in economics, business and markets, sign up to Money Talks, our weekly newsletter.This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Flight tracker” More