Raphael Stevens

Walmart and its big-box warehouse subsidiary Sam’s Club accused rival retailer BJ’s Wholesale Club in a lawsuit filed Tuesday of stealing technology that powers a popular self-checkout option in the Sam’s Club mobile app.
In the lawsuit, Walmart claims BJ’s launched a self-checkout feature in its mobile app that’s nearly identical to Sam’s Club’s Scan & Go.
Scan & Go has become more popular since the Covid-19 pandemic began in the U.S. in early 2020 as shoppers adopted social distancing and contactless checkout.

Shoppers stock up on merchandise at a Sam’s Club store on January 12, 2018 in Streamwood, Illinois.
Scott Olson | Getty Images

Walmart and its big-box warehouse subsidiary Sam’s Club accused rival retailer BJ’s Wholesale Club in a lawsuit filed Tuesday of stealing technology that powers a popular self-checkout option in the Sam’s Club mobile app.
The suit, filed in federal court, claims Walmart worked for years to develop Scan & Go, a feature that lets Sam’s Club customers ring up purchases on their smartphones while walking through the store, allowing them to avoid a checkout line.

It also notes that Walmart holds multiple patents protecting the intellectual property for the self-checkout feature, which debuted in 2016. Scan & Go has become more popular since the Covid-19 pandemic began in the U.S. in early 2020 as shoppers adopted social distancing and contactless checkout.
Walmart alleges its “innovations were simply taken without permission” by BJ’s, which launched its contactless offering, ExpressPay, in late 2021.
“Express Pay is an apparent copy of Sam’s Club’s Scan & Go, merely changing the in-app colors and changing the name from Scan & Go to Express Pay,” the lawsuit says.
As a result, the suit claims, BJ’s has infringed on Walmart’s patent rights, causing “significant damages and irreparable harm.”
The lawsuit was filed in a U.S. District Court in Orlando, Florida. Walmart and BJ’s both declined to comment on the suit, which was first reported by Bloomberg Law.

The legal action comes as warehouse clubs such as Sam’s Club, BJ’s and Costco have seen sales surge during the Covid pandemic, with Americans stockpiling large quantities of toilet paper and food, cooking more at home, and moving to homes in the suburbs with larger pantries.

Sam’s Club, which has served as a tech incubator for Walmart, has looked to technology as a competitive advantage against other retailers. It touted Scan & Go last month in its first-ever Super Bowl ad, which featured comedian and actor Kevin Hart.
Scan & Go is now available at Walmart locations, as a perk for shoppers who sign up for Walmart+, a subscription-based service that Walmart launched to deepen customer loyalty and better compete with Amazon Prime.
Sam’s Club does not disclose customer data, but Walmart said the retailer’s membership hit a record high in the fourth quarter.
Same-store sales at Sam’s Club grew 10.4% in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared with the year-ago period, excluding fuel.
That rate was nearly double the sales growth of Walmart’s U.S. same-store sales during the same period.

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The UK & Ireland had been expected to be the only bid for Euro 2028 but Turkey and Russia – despite a ban from FIFA and UEFA – also put their names forward.
Turkey and Russia have also applied to host Euro 2032, along with Italy.
A decision will be made in September 2023.

 Vladimir Putin, President of Russia speaks during the Preliminary Draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia at The Konstantin Palace on July 25, 2015 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. 
Dennis Grombkowski | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

Russia and Turkey have joined the UK and Ireland in declaring an interest to host Euro 2028.
It had seemed a joint-bid from the UK and Ireland would be the sole application for the tournament but on Wednesday Russia – despite the current suspension of their clubs and national teams by FIFA and UEFA over the country’s invasion of Ukraine – and Turkey surprisingly put their name forwards to host the competition.

Russia and Turkey have also declared an interest in hosting Euro 2032, with Italy rivalling them for that edition of the European Championships.
The Euro 2028 and Euro 2032 competitions will be awarded to host countries in September 2023.
Russia successfully hosted the 2018 World Cup but has been exiled from the international sports community since its invasion of Ukraine a month ago, with UEFA having already stripped St Petersburg of hosting rights for this season’s men’s Champions League final.
They have been able to put their name forward for these competitions because the Russian Football Union was not suspended when FIFA and UEFA banned the club and national teams.

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“If that was to happen, this bid would be thrown out,” Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol said. “What I’ve been told is the UEFA executive committee is ready to meet very, very quickly to make that decision to suspend the Russian Football Union.
“If that was to happen, you have to look at article 11 of UEFA’s bid regulations and that says, ‘only UEFA member associations that are not suspended, excluded or dissolved may bid to host UEFA finals’.”

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Travel demand has surged since Covid omicron infections peaked.
Airline executives expect bookings to continue to rise through the summer.
Carriers offered crews incentive pay during the year-end holidays to stem a staffing shortfall.

A Boeing 737-990operated by Alaska Airlines takes off from JFK Airport on August 24, 2019 in the Queens borough of New York City.
Bruce Bennett | Getty Images

Alaska Airlines is offering flight attendants double pay to pick up extra trips this spring in hopes of avoiding staffing shortfalls ahead of an even bigger jump in travel demand in the coming months.
Airlines rolled out incentives such as bonuses and up to triple pay to pilots and flight attendants late last year to stem staffing shortfalls during the busy year-end holidays, but a wave of Covid omicron infections still sidelined crew members, contributing to thousands of flight cancellations.

Alaska’s offer shows the carrier is willing to pay crews more to avoid flight disruptions from staffing shortfalls, a problem that can quickly spread through an airline’s network. The incentive kicks in when flight attendants work more than 100 trips per pay in a month, which is generally calculated based on trip length.
“Like many other airlines, we are facing general staffing challenges,” Alaska said in a statement. “In response, we’re offering flight attendants pay incentives to fill gaps in staffing for a short period of time this Spring.”
The airline has recently hired and trained 165 new flight attendants and plans to bring 700 more on board this June. It had more than 5,500 flight attendants as of the end of 2021. Alaska is the fifth-largest U.S. carrier with more than 120 destinations in North America and hubs on the West Coast and in Alaska.
The Seattle-based airline approached the flight attendants’ union about the incentive pay, according to a note to cabin crews sent Friday.
American Airlines, which aims to hire some 18,000 people this year, and Southwest Airlines, which has targeted 8,000 new employees in 2022, said they aren’t currently offering similar incentives to Alaska’s.

Airline executives last week said travel demand has bounced back faster than they expected. In February, bookings and sales surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time, according to Adobe data, and airport security screenings this week hit the highest since Thanksgiving.
They said they expect that trend to help offset a sharp rise in fuel prices this year, though some carriers, including Alaska, have trimmed their schedules in response to the higher costs. The airline, however, said it expects to be back to pre-Covid capacity by the summer.
Alaska executives will outline its plans for the coming year in an investor day on Thursday.

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Tickets for blockbuster Broadway shows are more expensive now than they were before the pandemic.
Despite the pricey tickets, there’s pent-up demand and attendance is strong – with many shows playing to sold-out or nearly full houses.
A little more than half of the 22 current shows on Broadway are posting weekly grosses of more than $1 million.

People purchase tickets at the reopened TKTS booth for Broadway shows in Times Square on September 15, 2021 in New York, United States.
Liao Pan | China News Service | Getty Images

Ticket prices for many blockbuster Broadway shows have become more expensive, as theatergoers are paying up for an evening out on the Great White Way.
Audiences appear to be eager to catch up on lost time, as the latest Covid wave has abated a great deal. All Broadway shows went dark back on March 12, 2020, during the pandemic’s early days. Several shows never returned, but those that did, saw a staggered reopening in the fall —ending an unprecedented hiatus.

For the first time since shows resumed performances, the Broadway League on Tuesday released weekly box-office grosses for individual Broadway musicals and plays. The league, which is essentially Broadway’s trade association, had previously chosen to suspend that weekly practice even after shows got back up and running in the fall and into the winter.
Here are some key takeaways from the figures for the most recent week, which ended March 20:

There are higher ticket prices and fewer discounts, particularly for blockbuster musicals – especially the more family oriented ones. “Aladdin,” “The Lion King” and “Wicked” – as well as the stalwart “The Phantom of the Opera” – are among the shows seeing a significantly higher average ticket price compared with March 2020.
Despite the pricey tickets, there’s pent-up demand and attendance is strong. Many shows are playing to sold-out or nearly full houses. Sixteen of the 22 productions playing on Broadway filled 90% or more of the seats in their theaters.
Twelve of the 22 shows on Broadway are posting weekly grosses of more than $1 million. Just before the pandemic closure, only a third of shows playing at the time were grossing that much. However, there were far more shows two years ago: 30 productions were running before the pandemic stoppage, with 10 grossing at least $1 million a week.
Theatergoers are paying a premium to see stars. X-Men star Hugh Jackman and Broadway’s leading lady, Sutton Foster, headline the revival of “The Music Man,” which opened in February. That production grossed a staggering $3.5 million in a week and had an average ticket price of $283. Both figures are by far the highest on the Great White Way. “Hamilton” came in second with an average of $213, and it was the only other show that grossed more than $2 million. The Neil Simon revival “Plaza Suite,” starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, drew just under $213 per ticket. Right before the pandemic, only “Hamilton” saw an average price over $200 on Broadway.
Take a look, too, at the highest ticket prices for each of those three shows. “The Music Man” set the bar at $697, “Plaza Suite” pulled in $549, and “Hamilton” registered at $449.

The most recent box-office grosses, ticket prices and attendance figures are a stark contrast to what happened around the holiday season and into January. The Christmastime weeks are historically the most important weeks of the year for Broadway productions. That’s when they can charge premium prices and basically play to full theaters thanks to the holiday season.
But that changed late in 2021 when the omicron surge once again crippled business on Broadway. Although just about all Broadway actors, musicians, theater personnel and theatergoers were required to be vaccinated, they were not immune to the highly contagious variant. Some Broadway shows had to pause for a few days – or in some cases weeks – because so many in the cast and crew tested positive. In January, which is usually a more challenging time of the year to fill houses, audiences stayed away because of the virus, and attendance suffered even more.
In addition to publishing the most recent week’s data, the Broadway League also released all the past weeks’ data that had been withheld since Broadway’s fall reopening. Those figures provided insight into how difficult business was in the wake of omicron. Take a look at the week ended Jan. 16 as an example:

More than half of the shows open at the time (14 out of 25) were playing to theaters that were under 75% full.
The theater was only 67% full for “Wicked.” The hit musical grossed under $1.1 million that week – far below the $1.9 million it grossed in its most recent week.
“Phantom of the Opera” only filled 45% of its seats that week. It grossed a little more than half a million dollars – a fraction of the $959,000 that it did it the latest week.
Attendance for “Hamilton” dropped to 78% of capacity – which would be otherwise unheard of for the hit show.

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Petco CEO Ron Coughlin said customers don’t pull back on pet spending, even if prices go up and budgets get tighter.
The company held its first investor day since returning the public market last year.
Petco has bulked up its private label offerings, expanded vet care and other pet services and wooed customers willing to splurge on everything from clothes to fresh food for their dogs and cats.

A customer exits a Petco store in Clark, New Jersey.
Ron Antonelli | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Petco CEO Ron Coughlin on Wednesday said the specialty retailer has a key advantage in an uncertain environment: Americans spend on pets, even when their budgets tighten.
At an investor day in New York City, he said the pet category is “resilient to economic downturns, resilient to inflation.”

Plus, he said, more people adopted pets during the pandemic, as they moved into larger homes with yards and spent more time working from home. He compared the dynamic to a baby boom, saying the need for food, vet care and more will outlast the global health crisis.
Petco wants to grab a bigger piece of the growing market. It estimates that the pet industry drove $72 billion in demand for food and other merchandise last year, and said that will grow by 7% by 2025 — with double-digit growth in premium merchandise. Competitors, including Chewy and Walmart, have also stepped up investments in the pet industry by launching new services from virtual vet visits to pet insurance, in addition to selling pet supplies.
To stand out in a crowded field, Petco has bulked up its private label offerings, expanded vet care and other pet services and wooed customers willing to splurge on everything from fashionable clothes to fresh and organic food as they treat dogs, cats, hamsters and other pets as family members. It is also testing a mini Petco shop inside of select Lowe’s stores.
It had nearly 200 full-service veterinary hospitals at the end of the fiscal year and plans to grow that to 900, Chief Operating Officer Mike Nuzzo said Wednesday. It also encourages customers to get pet supplies and services from its stores through a subscription service called Vital Care, which offers unlimited vet exams and discounts on food and grooming, for $19.99 per month.
On the digital side, the company has leaned on stores to fulfill online orders and offer same-day pickup. Coughlin said that makes the e-commerce business more profitable, especially as gas prices rise and add up to higher costs for delivery companies.

The investor day on Thursday marked Petco’s first since it returned to the public market in early 2021. The brick-and-mortar retailer’s shares have grown about 7% since then.
Its shares were down about 1.5% Thursday morning, amid a broader downturn in the market.
Petco reiterated its prior forecast for the year ahead at the investor day. The company said it expects between 97 cents and $1.00 of adjusted earnings per share on net revenue of $6.15 billion to $6.25 billion.
That represents an increase from Petco’s $5.81 billion of net sales last fiscal year. That growth is roughly in line with Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts expect 99 cents of adjusted earnings per share on revenue of $6.2 billion, according to Refinitiv.

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SpaceX is raising prices across its products and services, including for rocket launches and Starlink satellite internet, citing “excessive levels of inflation.”
The price hikes range from as much as a 20% increase for new Starlink hardware, to 8% for launches with the company’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.
“It’s a tough challenge, keeping ahead, just so we don’t start bleeding,” SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero told CNBC.

A Starlink logo of a satellite internet constellation being constructed by SpaceX is seen on a smartphone and a pc screen.
Pavlo Gonchar | LightRocket | Getty Images

WASHINGTON — SpaceX is raising prices across its products and services, including for rocket launches and Starlink satellite internet, citing “excessive levels of inflation.”
The double-digit price hikes come shortly after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted that both the space company and automaker Tesla have been “seeing significant recent inflation pressure in raw materials & logistics.”

SpaceX sent notices on Tuesday to Starlink users and deposit holders noting the higher prices, according to a copy of the email obtained by CNBC.
“The sole purpose of these adjustments is to keep pace with rising inflation,” the Starlink email said.
Starlink’s baseline monthly service price will increase by 11%, to $110 from $99 per month, effective May 21. The price of the baseline Starlink hardware will jump by 10%, to $549 from $499, for users who placed a deposit but are on SpaceX’s waiting list for service.
For new orders, the company increased the base hardware price by 20%, to $599 from $499.
Users seeking a refund in light of the price changes can cancel service without a fee, but will only receive a full refund if they received the Starlink hardware in the past 30 days. Otherwise, SpaceX is offering a partial refund of $200 for users who cancel within the first year of service.

SpaceX did not change the pricing of its premium service, rolled out in February, but did recently rebrand the offering as Starlink Business, according to its website. Starlink Business requires a $500 refundable deposit and a $2,500 fee for the hardware and comes with a $500-per-month service cost.

Rocket prices rise

A Falcon 9 rocket launches the company’s Transporter-2 rideshare mission on June 30, 2021.

SpaceX also raised prices across its launch business, with increases affecting everything from wholesale rocket purchases to small satellites hitching a ride to orbit.
SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero told CNBC the price increases were “purely an inflation-driven decision.”
“It’s long overdue and it’s just the cost of everything. I don’t even think that covers the cost of everything we’re experiencing, everything from helium to gas to my humans — you got to pay people so much now, it’s such a competitive market,” Ochinero said from the Satellite 2022 conference in Washington, D.C.
The starting prices for a Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy rocket will each increase by about 8%. A Falcon 9 launch will cost $67 million, up from $62 million, and a Falcon Heavy launch will now run $97 million, up from $90 million.
A footnote on SpaceX’s pricing page notes that “missions purchased in 2022 but flown beyond 2023 may be subject to additional adjustments due to inflation.”
“It’s a tough challenge, keeping ahead, just so we don’t start bleeding,” Ochinero added.
The company also adjusted its prices for its small satellite rideshare program. Those flights will now start at $1.1 million to fly a payload weighing 200 kilograms to a sun-synchronous orbit, up from a base price of $1 million. SpaceX increased the cost of additional payload mass by 10% as well and will now charge $5,500 per extra kilogram, up from a previous $5,000 per kilogram.

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Automaker Stellantis and LG Energy Solution will invest about $4.1 billion through a joint venture to establish the first large-scale, domestic, electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Canada.
Construction of the plant in Windsor, Ontario is scheduled to begin later this year with operations planned to launch in the first quarter of 2024.
The new plant is part of the automaker’s plans to accelerate its EV investment to achieve sales of 5 million EVs globally by 2030.

Chris Feuell, CEO of Chrysler brand of Stellantis, introduces the all-electric Chrysler Airflow Concept vehicle during a Stellantis press event at CES 2022 at the Las Vegas Convention Center on January 5, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Alex Wong | Getty Images

DETROIT – Automaker Stellantis and LG Energy Solution will invest about $4.1 billion through a joint venture to establish the first large-scale, domestic, electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Canada, the companies announced Wednesday.
Construction of the plant in Windsor, Ontario is scheduled to begin later this year with operations planned to launch in the first quarter of 2024, according to the transatlantic automaker. Once fully operational, the plant is expected to have an annual production capacity of more than 45 gigawatt hours and will create an estimated 2,500 new jobs, Stellantis said.

The new plant is part of the automaker’s plans to accelerate its EV investment to achieve sales of 5 million EVs globally by 2030. That includes all sales in Europe and 50% of passenger car and light-duty truck sales in North America.
The announcement is the latest for automakers regarding battery plants, also known as gigafactories, as the companies attempt to pivot to all-electric vehicles during this decade. Nearly every major automaker globally has announced such plans, including allocating billions to the production of batteries – the most critical component for such vehicles.
Stellantis – the world’s fourth-largest automaker – was formed in January 2021 by the merger of Fiat Chrysler and France-based Groupe PSA. It has 14 individual auto brands, including Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep and Peugeot.

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