6 Most Important Things in Business Today

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Mar 13, 3:45PM EDT · Published Feb 13, 5:10AM EST

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

6 Most Important Things in Business Today — © Thinkstock

Global oil supply may surpass demand this year. According to Reuters:

The rise in global oil production, led by the United States, is likely to outpace growth in demand this year, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.

The Paris-based IEA raised its forecast for oil demand growth in 2018 to 1.4 million barrels per day, from a previous projection of 1.3 million bpd, after the International Monetary Fund upped its estimate of global economic growth for this year and next.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (NASDAQ: WBA) may make among the biggest buyouts so far this year. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. has made a takeover approach to drug distributor AmerisourceBergen Corp., a move that could help boost profitability at the drugstore giant and insulate it against external threats in an increasingly competitive health-care landscape.

Representatives of Walgreens Chief Executive Stefano Pessina reached out several weeks ago to representatives of Amerisource CEO Steven Collis, according to people familiar with the matter. They discussed the possibility of Walgreens buying the portion of Amerisource it doesn’t already own, though there isn’t an offer on the table, the people said.

[nativounit]

Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) cut staff after a difficult holiday season. According to CNBC:

Barnes & Noble is trimming its staff, laying off lead cashiers, digital leads and other experienced workers in a company-wide clearing, CNBC has learned from sources familiar with the matter.

The news came abruptly for many workers who showed up Monday morning at various Barnes & Noble locations to be notified that they no longer had a job, the people said. The number of affected workers couldn’t immediately be determined. As of April 29 of last year, Barnes & Noble employed about 26,000 people

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is slashing jobs. According to The Seattle Times:

Amazon is cutting several hundred jobs in Seattle, and hundreds elsewhere, a rare layoff that appears to fall predominantly on its established consumer retail business. The company continues to hire aggressively in other areas.

Remington has filed for Chapter 11. According to CNNMoney:

Remington, one of the oldest and most well-known gun companies in the world, plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The plan would allow Remington Outdoor Company to stay in business while restructuring its debt. The plan allows for Remington to reduce its debt by $700 million and contributes $145 million of new capital into its subsidiaries, according to the company.

Remington said in a statement that its operations “will not be disrupted by the restructuring process.”

Uber will cap the amount of time its drivers can be on the road. According to Fortune:

Uber will shut its most active drivers out of the app for a required six-hour break after they have driven for 12 hours straight, the ride-hailing company announced Monday.

These restrictions, meant to prevent accidents caused by drowsy driving, are already in place in some U.S. cities, per local regulations. Uber is now broadening the rule to all U.S. drivers that use its app.

[wallst_email_signup]

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.