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Sandwich maker Potbelly is being acquired by the gas station and convenience store chain RaceTrac for $566 million. Potbelly, which was founded in Chicago in 1977, has 445 restaurants across the U.S. The company said the deal with RaceTrac will help it reach its goal of quadrupling in size to 2,000 locations. Potbelly stores are both company- and franchise-owned. With RaceTracs resources, we will unlock new opportunities for this incredible brand while staying true to the neighborhood sandwich shop experience that makes Potbelly special, Potbelly CEO Bob Wright said in a statement Wednesday. Potbelly shares jumped more than 31%, to $17. Sandwich chains and restaurants have struggled in recent years, starting with the pandemic that had millions eating at home when they would usually have dined out. Yet Potbelly’s profits have been rising, and growth in its franchised businesses has been strong. Now it is inflation that is hitting restaurants hard as they pay more for ingredients and customers tighten their belts. At the same time, national chains are being pressured to lower prices, with lower-income customers pulling back on spending and sticking to essentials. McDonalds said this month that it is cutting prices on some combo meals to woo back customers whove been turned off by the rising costs of grabbing a fast-food meal. Some chains have become takeover targets. Daves Hot Chicken was acquired over the summer for $1 billion by a private equity firm. The same firm, Roark Capital, snapped up Subway in 2023 for nearly $10 billion. Roark specializes in franchised businesses and backs two holding companies that own multiple restaurant chains: Inspire Brands, the parent of Arbys, Dunkin, Jimmy Johns, and Buffalo Wild Wings; and Focus Brands, which owns Auntie Annes, Carvel, Cinnabon, and Jamba. RaceTrac was founded in 1934 and is family-owned. The Atlanta company operates more than 800 locations in 14 states. RaceTrac chairman and CEO Natalie Morhous said the company is eager to expand its stable of brands. RaceTrac said it will acquire all of Potbellys shares for $17.12 per share in an all-cash deal. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter. By Dee-Ann Durbin, AP business writer
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E-Commerce
Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical giant behind the popular weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, just announced plans to cut 11% of its workforce as competitors like Eli Lilly continue to encroach on its market share. On September 10, Novo Nordisk shared in a press release that it intends to nix 9,000 positions out of its global workforce of 78,400. The company cited a more competitive obesity market, as well as a recent slowdown in growth, as two of the main reasons driving the move to reduce organisational complexity and costs. As the global leader in obesity and diabetes, Novo Nordisk delivers life-changing products for patients worldwide, Mike Doustdar, Novo Nordisk president and CEO, said in the release. But our markets are evolving, particularly in obesity, as it has become more competitive and consumer-driven. Our company must evolve as well. In the wake of the announcement, Novo Nordisks share price held relatively steady. However, the company has been losing steam more broadly over the past few months: Since this time last year, its stock has declined by 58%. Novo Nordisk is facing increased competition on several fronts, including from providers offering compounded versions of its drugs (which its actively fighting in court) and from fellow pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisks main rival and purveyor of the weight-loss medications Zepbound and Mounjaro. Novo Nordisk faces heightened competition For Novo Nordisks business, a top concern at the moment is the ongoing prevalence of other companies offering compoundedor non-FDA approvedversions of its brand-name drugs using the active ingredient semaglutide. Back in 2022, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declared a shortage of GLP-1 medications including Ozempic and Wegovy, which permitted compounded versions of the medication under federal law. But after that shortage notice was officially lifted back in May, Novo Nordisk says the compounded versions of Ozempic and Wegovy are still being produced and sold. In June, Novo Nordisk cut ties with the telehealth company Hims & Hers Health after accusing Hims of selling alleged knock-off weight-loss drugs, and the pharmaceutical company is actively in court with dozens of other U.S. companies that it claims are similarly duping its drugs. In July, Novo Nordisk also cut its full-year 2025 guidance, which it attributed in part to compounded drug sales. For Wegovy in the US, the sales outlook reflects the persistent use of compounded GLP-1s, slower-than-expected market expansion and competition, the company said at the time. It added that, as far as Ozempic was concerned, the updated outlook is negatively impacted by competition in the U.S. Aside from companies selling compounded drugs, Novo Nordisk is also facing increasingly tough competition from Eli Lilly and its two popular FDA-approved weight-loss drugs. Eli Lillys second-quarter earnings report, released in early August, showed that sales of Mounjaro reached nearly $5.2 billion in revenue, up 68% from the same quarter last year, while sales of Zepbound reached $3.4 billion, up 172% year-over-year. Given these wins, Eli Lilly increased its full-year guidance. Around the same time, Novo Nordisk released a second-quarter report that reflected its lowered growth expectations. It appears that Novo Nordisks layoffs are part of a push to meet these challenges head-on. Per the press release, the workforce cuts are expected to deliver total annualized savings of around $1.25 billion by the end of the yearsavings that will be redirected to growth opportunities in diabetes and obesity. Doustdar added that the job cuts are part of a necessary shift in the companys mindset, so we can be faster and more agile.
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E-Commerce
At SXSW, Fast Company asked festival goers why pizza parties fall flat as employee rewards.
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E-Commerce
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