Buyer’s Remorse

What will become of Victoria’s Secret now? It was already suffering from financial struggles and a tattered corporate reputation when Sycamore Partners, a private equity firm, agreed to buy it in the halcyon days of February. Since then, like many retailers, the lingerie company has furloughed most employees, cut executive salaries and missed April rent payments while its stores sit full of unsold merchandise. Now, Sycamore is trying to back out of the deal. It’s the highest-profile example to date of a buyer trying to wriggle out of an acquisition because of the pandemic, and Victoria’s Secret won’t go quietly.

Image Credit... Giacomo Bagnara

What’s Next? (April 26-May 2)

Advertisers Unmasked

To crack down on a glut of misleading and fraudulent ads popping up across its network, Google announced that it would require all its advertisers to identify themselves and where they operate. It will also pass along that information to consumers. Starting this summer, Google will display the names of the companies or people paying for the ad space, as well as their countries of origin, on the ads themselves. The initiative will start in the United States before expanding worldwide, and is part of Google’s attempt to stop businesses and individuals from misrepresenting themselves or their products in paid online promotions.

Who’s Borrowing

The Federal Reserve will meet this Wednesday to decide on interest rates, which don’t have much room to go lower; they’re already near zero. In related news, the Fed said that everyone who participates in its new coronavirus relief programs will be publicly named, along with how much money they borrow and the interest rate charged. That information will be published at least monthly as part of the Fed’s commitment to “transparency and accountability,” Jerome Powell, the Fed chair, said. It’s also a departure from the Fed’s previous protocols, and comes as the government is under scrutiny for bailing out bigger companies that didn’t need it and leaving smaller ones out to dry.

A Bacon Back Order

Don’t rush out to buy steaks because you’ll only make it worse, but the country may be looking at a meat shortage soon. Several meat plants have become major “hot spots” for the coronavirus as their workers have fallen ill. And after decades of consolidation, a relatively small number of meat processing facilities account for the vast majority of production. This weak link in the country’s food supply chain could have you dipping into your emergency dried bean supply even sooner than you expected.