The financial news that actually matters
Federal prosecutors have charged former First Brands Group CEO and founder Patrick James with orchestrating a fraud scheme that left roughly $2.3 billion unaccounted for when the company, maker of Fram oil filters and Autolite spark plugs, collapsed into bankruptcy. The indictment, unsealed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York,…
Roughly 31 million Xfinity customers stand to share a $117.5 million settlement after a four-day data breach in October 2023 exposed personal information tied to a known software flaw. Comcast Cable Communications LLC disclosed the incident to state regulators, reporting that the intrusion window ran from October 16 to October 19, 2023, and that 35,879,455…
Walgreens Boots Alliance plans to shut roughly 1,200 U.S. stores by the end of fiscal 2027, a sweeping reduction that will eliminate locations in waves over the next three years. The company’s board approved a formal closure program on Oct. 14, 2024, adding 900 to 1,000 stores to about 300 already slated to close. Hundreds…
E.L.F. Beauty is pulling back price increases it imposed on consumers after blaming tariffs for rising costs, a reversal that follows a federal court order confirming importers can recover duties the Supreme Court struck down. The company’s CEO has said “the consumer is suffering,” framing the rollback as a response to real financial strain felt…
Papa John’s is shutting down roughly 300 locations and eliminating 7% of its corporate workforce as part of a broad restructuring effort detailed in the company’s latest annual financial filing. The pizza chain disclosed the moves in its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 28, 2025, filed on February 26, 2026, under a…
Millions of Americans who split purchases into installments through services like Affirm, Klarna, and Afterpay are facing a new reality: those transactions, long invisible to lenders, are now feeding into credit score calculations. FICO has begun incorporating buy now, pay later payment data into its scoring models after a year-long study with Affirm, a shift…
American households shopping for an electric vehicle in 2026 face a steep and growing gap at the insurance counter. The average annual premium for an EV now sits at roughly $3,159, about 42 percent more than the $2,228 a typical gasoline-powered car commands. That spread lands at a moment when federal tax credits and state…
Millions of restaurant servers, bartenders, rideshare drivers, hotel staff, and other hourly workers who earn tips or overtime now have a concrete IRS form to fill out when they file their 2025 tax returns. The agency released Schedule 1-A, a new attachment to Form 1040, spelling out exactly how eligible taxpayers can deduct up to…
AT&T has agreed to pay $177 million to settle claims tied to two separate data breaches that exposed Social Security numbers and other personal information for tens of millions of current and former customers. The settlement splits the funds into $149 million for one affected group and $28 million for the second. Up to 182…
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high on July 2, 2026, the same day the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nonfarm payrolls grew by just 57,000 in June. That split-screen result captures a tension now facing millions of Americans: stock portfolios are climbing while the job market is clearly losing speed….