Business news in brief
By The Associated Press
Target to lower prices on thousands of basic items
Target plans to cut prices on thousands of consumer basics this summer, from diapers to milk, as inflation cuts into household budgets and more Americans pay closer attention to their spending.
The price cuts, already applied to 1,500 items, will eventually include 5,000 food, drink and essential household goods. Target and other retailers are increasingly catering to customers who are struggling with higher prices for groceries, though inflation has begun to cool. Many of them have switched to private label brands sold by Target and others big retailers, which are typically less expensive than well-known brands.
Red Lobster seeks bankruptcy protection
Casual dining chain Red Lobster has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The 56-year-old chain made the filing late Sunday, days after shuttering dozens of restaurants. Red Lobster brought seafood to the masses with inventions like popcorn shrimp and “endless” seafood deals. But it struggled in recent years with rising costs, increased competition and changing customer tastes.
Red Lobster says its remaining restaurants will continue to operate through the bankruptcy proceedings.
As part of the filing, Red Lobster entered into a “stalking horse” agreement, meaning it plans to sell its business to an entity formed by its lenders.
The company says it has estimated assets and liabilities worth between $1 billion and $10 billion.
Ivan Boesky dead at 87
Ivan F. Boesky, the flamboyant stock trader whose cooperation with the government cracked open one of the largest insider trading scandals in the history of Wall Street, has died at the age of 87.
A representative at the Marianne Boesky Gallery, owned by Ivan Boesky’s daughter, confirmed his death. No other details were given.
Once implicated in insider trading, Boesky cooperated with a brash young U.S. attorney named Rudolph Giuliani in a bid for leniency, uncovering a scandal that shattered promising careers, blemished some of the most respected U.S. investment brokerages and injected a certain paranoia into the securities industry.
—From AP reports
