Maple Street Biscuit Company, a Cracker Barrel-owned restaurant chain, shuttered more than a dozen locations that fell short of its financial expectations. Cracker Barrel warned in its earnings call last week that 14 locations would be impacted by the closures during fiscal 2026. However, Cracker Barrel told FOX Business that it had already closed the locations.“We appreciate the continued patronage of the many guests who have dined with Maple Street at these 14 locations over recent years and thank our tea ...

NBC News staffers who provided graphics support to both sister network MSNBC and the mothership division have been laid off from their jobs ahead of corporate parent Comcast’s spin-off of its cable division into a new company, according to a report.Fewer than a dozen staffers were shown the door at 30 Rock recently as preparations are being made for a new company called Versant to absorb MSNBC, according to the Status newsletter.The first casualties of the imminent divorce landed in NBC’s graphics unit, whi ...

The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge remained stubbornly high in August – but not enough to dash hopes for an interest rate cut at next month’s meeting.Personal consumption expenditures inflation rose 2.7% in August over the past 12 months, heating up from 2.6% in July as expected, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Friday. Core PCE – which excludes volatile food and energy prices – remained stuck at 2.9%, the same rate as the month before, according to the report.Federal Reserve Chair Jerome P ...

Costco Wholesale announced its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2025 earnings results Thursday, touting its new global locations, digital upgrades and the impact of its expanded hours for executive members.The retailer launched exclusive morning hours for executive members in June, along with an additional Saturday evening hour for all US members. The changes were designed to “increase value and convenience,” Costco President and CEO Ron Vachris said on the earnings call.“We estimate these incremental hours h ...

Amazon Web Services’ top executive admonished staff on Thursday for what he called slow product rollouts by the cloud computing provider at its premier Reinvent customer event in December, according to a transcript of a meeting reviewed by Reuters.The Amazon unit typically announces its most ambitious new products and services at the annual conference in Las Vegas. Last year, for instance, AWS showed off its Nova chatbot, pitting it against OpenAI and other artificial intelligence rivals.“Increasingly, we’r ...

President Trump has just signed a deal sanctioning his plan to transfer operational control of TikTok to a consortium of American investors — noting he did so after a “very good talk with President Xi.”Trump, who plans to meet Xi next month in South Korea on the sidelines of the APEC summit, said “we have great American investors,” but named only Larry Ellison of Oracle. “I spoke with President Xi,” he said. “We had a good talk. I told him what we were doing and he said, ‘Go ahead with it.’”This is a develo ...

Microsoft on Thursday said it disabled a set of cloud and AI services used by a unit within the Israel Ministry of Defense after an internal review found preliminary evidence supporting media reports of a surveillance system in Gaza and the West Bank.Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, said the company opened the review after an article by the Guardian alleged activity by a unit of the Israel Defense Forces.A joint investigation published in early August by the Guardian, Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 ...

Amazon has agreed to a $2.5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over charges that it knowingly trapped customers into paying for Prime subscriptions, the agency announced Thursday.The ecommerce giant will pay a $1 billion civil penalty and pledge another $1.5 billion in refunds to customers who were harmed by its conduct, the FTC said in a release. Amazon will also “cease unlawful enrollment and cancellation practices for Prime.”About 35 million consumers were affected by Amazon’s alleged m ...

The Walt Disney Company is bracing for a courtroom showdown with President Donald Trump after reinstating late-night host Jimmy Kimmel — a move that has already triggered threats against the company’s broadcast licenses and new warnings from regulators.The entertainment giant brought Kimmel back on air Tuesday night after a weeklong suspension for remarks he made on Sept. 15 about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.During the Sept. 15 monlogue, Kimmel falsely asserted that Kirk’s alleged assa ...

Starbucks said Thursday it would shutter underperforming stores in North America and cut 900 jobs in a $1 billion restructuring effort, as CEO Brian Niccol presses ahead with his plan to revive the company’s fortunes.In his first year on the job, Niccol has zeroed in on investing in Starbucks’ stores to reduce service times and restore a coffee-house environment, while also trimming management layers.The company has posted six straight quarters of sales decline in the US as demand for its pricey lattes took ...