Sears marked the end of an era today, as the store that “more than a century ago pioneered the strategy of selling everything to everyone” filed for bankruptcy protection early this morning – NYTimes and Bloomberg and WSJ
The Journal consider Sears’ biggest investor (and now-former CEO) Eddie Lampert’s controversial “non-strategy” to save the iconic retailer, marked by a reluctance to “commit capital to fresh ventures” and next to no money for things like store updates – WSJ
New details emerging about Facebook’s latest data breach show that while fewer users than first thought were affected (30 million vs. 50 million, as first reported), the information exposed was “far more intimate than originally thought,” and included items like search history, physical location, and religious affiliation – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and Law360
Prudential Financial is on the brink of becoming the final nonbank entity to shed its SIFI label. The Financial Stability Oversight Council meets tomorrow and could make the move then – Bloomberg
The Times gives us this interesting look at Rent the Runway Unlimited, an expanded version of the popular online clothing rental business that “has become a strategic solution for professional women” – NYTimes
We’ve had our eye on Italy’s economic woes for a while now, and recent populist plans from its governing coalition to spend wildly despite Europe’s warning to the contrary could help make the country the epicenter of the next financial crisis – NYTimes and Bloomberg
The DOJ’s Crim Division head has unveiled a new policy on what prosecutors must consider before imposing a monitorship and announced that Justice will “look to hire prosecutors with compliance experience instead of finding a new corporate ethics counsel” – Law360
ECB Chief Mario Draghi is also closely watching global economic volatility and the chances that financial instability, inflation surprises, or geopolitics could goose up interest rates in a “sharp and sudden” way – Bloomberg
SoftBank’s massive WeWork investment this week demonstrates yet another reason why the IPO scene has been so soft in recent years: why go through the risk of going public when there are billions to be had while staying private – WSJ
MarketWatch tells us to forget Wall Street as an indicator of US economic strength and look instead to restaurants, where Americans are continuing to spend at the highest annual pace in nearly 25 years – MarketWatch
Federal authorities have charged 3 commodity futures traders with fraud and conspiracy counts related to a “spoofing scheme that distorted the commodities markets and caused other traders to lose more than $60 million” – Law360
Prosecutors are revealing for the first time that their criminal fraud case against Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and its president Sunny Balwani is broader than originally disclosed – Bloomberg
White Collar Watch on the potential consequences of Elon Musk’s war-of-words via tweet with the SEC, even as he and Tesla move to finalize their settlement agreement with the agency – NYTimes
Savannah, Georgia’s under attack (I mean, kind of). Just ask any official there, and they’ll assure you that the Googly Eyes Bandit is no laughing matter – Mashable
