6 Most Important Things in Business Today

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Jan 12, 6:48AM EST · Published Oct 26, 5:00AM EDT

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Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) said its annual sales will reach over $50 billion within five years.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) will launch a program called Key that will allow deliveries to inside people’s homes.

Trump aide Gary Cohn has been dropped from consideration to become next Federal Reserve chief. According to Bloomberg:

President Donald Trump does not intend to appoint National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn to lead the Federal Reserve, three people familiar with the matter said.

Trump has privately told people at least twice in the last week that he would not appoint Cohn as Fed chair, according to two people who met with him. They asked not to be identified discussing private conversations with the president.

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This year has already had a record number of store closings. According to CNNMoney:

More store closings have been announced in 2017 than any other year on record. Since January 1, retailers have announced plans to shutter more than 6,700 stores in the U.S., according to Fung Global Retail & Technology, a retail think tank. That beats the previous all-time high of 6,163 store closings, which hit in 2008 amid the financial meltdown, according to Credit Suisse (CS).

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (NYSE: WBA) will close a huge number of stores as its deal to buy part of Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) closes. According to Fortune:

If it sometimes feels like there is a drugstore at practically every intersection in the United States, some relief is on the way.

Walgreens Boots Alliance said on Wednesday it would close nearly 600 of the 1,932 Rite Aid stores it is buying in a $4.375 billion cash deal set to close in the spring of 2018. The company two years ago had planned to buy smaller rival Rite Aid in its 4,500-store entirety but in the face of anti-trust regulators balking in June, instead settled for a downsized deal announced in September. A few Walgreens stores are also being closed.

Burger King has set a new promotion to better compete with McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD). According to the New York Post:

Coulrophobes should steer clear of Burger King this Halloween.

The burger chain expecting lots and lots of clowns next week. The chain announced today in a video release that they will be offering free Whoppers to anyone dressed up like a clown for their Scary Clown Night. They also took some time in the video to make a few digs at one clown in particular.

According to Burger King’s press release, “clowns are the third most sought after Halloween costume of 2017,” which prompted the brand to jump on the trend.

The video they released for Scary Clown Night starts with a kid biking through the streets at night when he is confronted by a clown bearing a striking likeness to McDonald’s iconic mascot Ronald McDonald. The advertisement continues with clowns of all shapes and make-up following the bike to Burger King.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.