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Business

Corporate Layoffs Spread Beyond High-Growth Tech Giants

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The headline-grabbing expansion of layoffs beyond high-growth technology companies stands in contrast to historically low levels of jobless claims and news that companies such as

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.

and

Airbus SE

are adding jobs.

This week, four companies trimmed more than 10,000 jobs, just a fraction of their total workforces. Still, the decisions mark a shift in sentiment inside executive suites, where many leaders have been holding on to workers after struggling to hire and retain them in recent years when the pandemic disrupted workplaces.

Live Q&A

Tech Layoffs: What Do They Mean?

The creator of the popular layoff tracker Layoffs.fyi Roger Lee and the head of talent at venture firm M13 Matt Hoffman sit down with WSJ reporter Chip Cutter, to discuss what’s behind the recent downsizing and whether it will be enough to recalibrate ahead of a possible recession.

Unlike

Microsoft Corp.

and Google parent

Alphabet Inc.,

which announced larger layoffs this month, these companies haven’t expanded their workforces dramatically during the pandemic. Instead, the leaders of these global giants said they were shrinking to adjust to slowing growth, or responding to weaker demand for their products.

“We are taking these actions to further optimize our cost structure,”

Jim Fitterling,

Dow’s chief executive, said in announcing the cuts, noting the company was navigating “macro uncertainties and challenging energy markets, particularly in Europe.”

The U.S. labor market broadly remains strong but has gradually lost steam in recent months. Employers added 223,000 jobs in December, the smallest gain in two years. The Labor Department will release January employment data next week.

Economists from Capital Economics estimate a further slowdown to an increase of 150,000 jobs in January, which would push job growth below its 2019 monthly average, the year before pandemic began.

There is “mounting evidence of weakness below the surface,”

Andrew Hunter,

senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics wrote in a note to clients Thursday.

Last month, the unemployment rate was 3.5%, matching multidecade lows. Wage growth remained strong, but had cooled from earlier in 2022. The Federal Reserve, which has been raising interest rates to combat high inflation, is looking for signs of slower wage growth and easing demand for workers.

Many CEOs say companies are beginning to scrutinize hiring more closely.

Slower hiring has already lengthened the time it takes Americans to land a new job. In December, 826,000 unemployed workers had been out of a job for about 3½ to 6 months, up from 526,000 in April 2022, according to the Labor Department.

“Employers are hovering with their feet above the brake. They’re more cautious. They’re more precise in their hiring,” said

Jonas Prising,

chief executive of

ManpowerGroup Inc.,

a provider of temporary workers. “But they’ve not stopped hiring.”

Additional signs of a cooling economy emerged on Thursday when the Commerce Department said U.S. gross domestic product growth slowed to a 2.9% annual rate in the fourth quarter, down from a 3.2% annual rate in the third quarter.

Not all companies are in layoff mode.

Walmart Inc.,

the country’s biggest private employer, said this week it was raising its starting wages for hourly U.S. workers to $14 from $12, amid a still tight job market for front line workers. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. said Thursday it plans to hire 15,000 new employees to work in its restaurants, while plane maker Airbus SE said it is recruiting over 13,000 new staffers this year. Airbus said 9,000 of the new jobs would be based in Europe with the rest spread among the U.S., China and elsewhere. 

General Electric Co.

, which slashed thousands of aerospace workers in 2020 and is currently laying off 2,000 workers from its wind turbine business, is hiring in other areas. “If you know any welders or machinists, send them my way,” Chief Executive

Larry Culp

said this week.

Annette Clayton,

CEO of North American operations at

Schneider Electric SE,

a Europe-headquartered energy-management and automation company, said the U.S. needs far more electricians to install electric-vehicle chargers and perform other tasks. “The shortage of electricians is very, very important for us,” she said.

Railroad CSX Corp. told investors on Wednesday that after sustained effort, it had reached its goal of about 7,000 train and engine employees around the beginning of the year, but plans to hire several hundred more people in those roles to serve as a cushion and to accommodate attrition that remains higher than the company would like.

Freeport-McMoRan Inc.

executives said Wednesday they expect U.S. labor shortages to continue to crimp production at the mining giant. The company has about 1,300 job openings in a U.S. workforce of about 10,000 to 12,000, and many of its domestic workers are new and need training and experience to match prior expertise, President

Kathleen Quirk

told analysts.

“We could have in 2022 produced more if we were fully staffed, and I believe that is the case again this year,” Ms. Quirk said.

The latest layoffs are modest relative to the size of these companies. For example, IBM’s plan to eliminate about 3,900 roles would amount to a 1.4% reduction in its head count of 280,000, according to its latest annual report.

As interest rates rise and companies tighten their belts, white-collar workers have taken the brunt of layoffs and job cuts, breaking with the usual pattern leading into a downturn. WSJ explains why many professionals are getting the pink slip first. Illustration: Adele Morgan

The planned 3,000 job cuts at SAP affect about 2.5% of the business-software maker’s global workforce. Finance chief

Luka Mucic

said the job cuts would be spread across the company’s geographic footprint, with most of them happening outside its home base in Germany. “The purpose is to further focus on strategic growth areas,” Mr. Mucic said. The company employed around 111,015 people on average last year.

Chemicals giant Dow said on Thursday it was trimming about 2,000 employees. The Midland, Mich., company said it currently employs about 37,800 people. Executives said they were targeting $1 billion in cost cuts this year and shutting down some assets to align spending with the macroeconomic environment.

Manufacturer

3M Co.

, which had about 95,000 employees at the end of 2021, cited weakening consumer demand when it announced this week plans to eliminate 2,500 manufacturing jobs. The maker of Scotch tape, Post-it Notes and thousands of other industrial and consumer products said it expects lower sales and profit in 2023.

“We’re looking at everything that we do as we manage through the challenges that we’re facing in the end markets,” 3M Chief Executive

Mike Roman

said during an earnings conference call. “We expect the demand trends we saw in December to extend through the first half of 2023.”

Hasbro Inc.

on Thursday said it would eliminate 15% of its workforce, or about 1,000 jobs, after the toy maker’s consumer-products business underperformed in the fourth quarter.

Some companies still hiring now say the job cuts across the economy are making it easier to find qualified candidates. “We’ve got the pick of the litter,” said

Bill McDermott,

CEO of business-software provider

ServiceNow Inc.

“We have so many applicants.”

At

Honeywell International Inc.,

CEO

Darius Adamczyk

said the job market remains competitive. With the layoffs in technology, though, Mr. Adamczyk said he anticipated that the labor market would likely soften, potentially also expanding the applicants Honeywell could attract.

“We’re probably going to be even more selective than we were before because we’re going to have a broader pool to draw from,” he said.

Across the corporate sphere, many of the layoffs happening now are still small relative to the size of the organizations, said

Denis Machuel,

CEO of global staffing firm Adecco Group AG.

“I would qualify it more as a recalibration of the workforce than deep cuts,” Mr. Machuel said. “They are adjusting, but they are not cutting the muscle.”

Write to Chip Cutter at chip.cutter@wsj.com and Theo Francis at theo.francis@wsj.com

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Business

Apple, Amazon, McDonald’s Headline Busy Earnings Week

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Amazon.

com Inc.,

Apple Inc.

and

Meta Platforms Inc.

are among the tech heavyweights featured in a packed week of earnings that investors will probe for indicators about the broader economy.

Other tech companies scheduled to report their latest quarterly reports include Google parent company

Alphabet Inc.

and

Microsoft Corp.

Investors also will hear from airlines such as

Southwest Airlines Co.

and

JetBlue Airways Corp.

, automotive companies

General Motors Co.

and

Ford Motor Co.

, and energy giants

Chevron Corp.

and

Exxon

Mobil Corp.

Nearly a third of the S&P 500, or 161 companies, are slated to report earnings in the coming week, according to FactSet. Twelve bellwethers from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, including

Boeing Co.

and

McDonald’s

Corp., are expected to report as well.

The flurry of results from a broad set of companies will give a sense of how businesses are faring as they deal with inflation denting consumer spending, ongoing supply-chain challenges and a stronger dollar.

People awaited the release of Apple’s latest iPhones in New York last month. The company will report quarterly results on Thursday afternoon.



Photo:

ANDREW KELLY/REUTERS

One area holding up to the challenges has been travel. Several airline companies have reported that consumers still have an appetite to spend on trips and vacations. On Friday,

American Express Co.

raised its outlook for the year in part because of a surge in travel spending.

“We expected the recovery in travel spending to be a tailwind for us, but the strength of the rebound has exceeded our expectations throughout the year,” American Express Chief Executive

Stephen Squeri

said.

In addition to airlines reporting, companies such as car-rental company

Hertz Global Holdings Inc.

and lodging companies

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.

and

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Inc.

will offer reads into leisure spending.

Overall, earnings for the S&P 500 companies are on track to rise 1.5% this period compared with a year ago, while revenue is projected to grow 8.5%, FactSet said.

Other companies will serve as a gauge for how consumers have responded to higher prices and whether they have altered their spending as a result.

Coca-Cola Co.

and

Kimberly-Clark Corp.

on Tuesday and

Kraft Heinz Co.

on Wednesday will show how consumers are digesting higher prices.

Mattel Inc.,

set to report on Tuesday, will highlight whether demand for toys remains resilient. Rival

Hasbro Inc.

issued a warning ahead of the holiday season.

United Parcel Service Inc.

will release its results on Tuesday and provide an opportunity to show how it is faring ahead of the busy shipping season. The Atlanta-based carrier’s earnings come weeks after rival

FedEx Corp.

warned of a looming global recession and outlined plans to raise shipping rates across most of its services in January to contend with a global slowdown in business.

Results from credit-card companies

Visa Inc.

and

Mastercard Inc.

will offer insights into whether inflation has finally put a dent in consumer spending after both companies reported resilient numbers last quarter.

Wireless carrier

T-Mobile US Inc.’s

numbers on Thursday will give more context to mixed results from competitors

Verizon Communications Inc.

and

AT&T Inc.

AT&T

issued an upbeat outlook on Thursday after its core wireless business exceeded the company’s expectations, whereas Verizon on Friday said earnings tumbled as retail customers balked at recent price increases.

Other notable companies lined up to report include

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.

on Tuesday, chicken giant

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.

on Wednesday and chip maker

Intel Corp.

on Thursday.

Write to Denny Jacob at denny.jacob@wsj.com

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US

California Fast Food Wages Would Be Set by Government Under Bill Passed by State Legislature

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California’s Legislature passed a bill Monday to create a government panel that would set wages for an estimated half-million fast food workers in the state, a first-in-the-U.S. approach to workplace regulation that labor union backers hope will spread nationally.

The bill, known as the Fast Act, would establish a panel with members appointed by the governor and legislative leaders composed of workers, union representatives, employers and business advocates. They would set hourly wages of up to $22 for fast food workers starting next year and can increase them annually by the same rate as the consumer-price index, up to a maximum of 3.5%.

A previous version of the bill passed by the state Assembly in January also allowed the council to oversee workplace conditions such as scheduling and made restaurant chains joint employers of their franchise’s employers, potentially opening them to liability for labor violations.

Representatives for companies including

McDonald’s Corp.

,

Yum Brands Inc.

and

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.

succeeded in having those provisions removed in the state Senate via amendments over the past week, though they still oppose the bill.

“This is the biggest lobbying fight that the franchise sector has ever been in,” said

Matthew Haller,

president of the International Franchise Association, a trade group whose members own many fast food restaurants.

A University of California, Riverside School of Business study commissioned by the franchisee association found that setting minimum wages between $22 and $43 would generate a 60% increase in labor costs and raise fast-food prices by about 20%.

California’s current minimum wage is $15 and is set to increase by 50 cents on Jan. 1.

The final version of the Fast Act passed both houses of the Democratic-controlled state Legislature on Monday. In both the Assembly and the Senate, all of the “yes” votes came from Democrats and every Republican who voted opposed the bill.

Democratic Gov.

Gavin Newsom

now has until Sept. 30 to decide whether to sign or veto the bill.

Mr. Newsom hasn’t taken a public stance on the current version of the bill, but his Department of Finance opposed the original version.

Labor unions backing the measure have long struggled to organize fast food workers, in part because the industry’s franchise model means there are so many different employers.

California lawmakers first floated the bill last year, with proponents arguing that tighter regulations were needed to protect fast food workers, who are overwhelmingly Black or Latino and who they say experience unpaid overtime and other labor violations.

The average U.S. home earned more last year than the average American worker. Prices for homes, groceries and gas are rising faster than Americans’ wages and that may be why sentiment and confidence have been so low recently. WSJ’s Dion Rabouin explains. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Despite the recent changes, proponents said the bill is still a significant step forward. Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, a former Democratic legislator who introduced the bill when she was in the Assembly, said it moves California closer to a labor model used in Europe where unions negotiate for wages and work conditions in an entire sector, rather than company-by-company.

“It’s still a big bold idea. And just the notion of giving workers a voice at the table will be fundamentally different for those workers,” said Ms. Gonzalez Fletcher, who now leads the California Labor Federation, the state’s largest union umbrella group.

The recent amendments call for the council to shut down in 2028 unless it is renewed, though inflation-adjusted wage increases for workers would continue.

The bill covers fast food restaurants that are part of a chain, that have limited or no table service and where customers order their food and pay before eating. The chain must have 100 or more locations nationally, up from 30 in a previous bill version.

California accounts for around 14% of total U.S. restaurant sales, and policy in the state tends to affect the rest of the sector, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. analysts wrote in a client note earlier this month.

Service Employees International Union President

Mary Kay Henry

said she hoped the bill would be a catalyst for similar movements across the country.

Investors have begun to ask about the act’s potential implications for restaurant chains at a time when companies are struggling with high food and labor costs, Wall Street analysts said.

“Obviously, we think it’s problematic on many, many fronts,” said

Paul Brown,

chief executive of Dunkin’ and Arby’s owner Inspire Brands Inc., in an interview. “I think it’s actually trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.”

Chipotle, Yum Brands, Chick-fil-A Inc., In-N-Out Burgers,

Jack in the Box Inc.,

and Burger King parent

Restaurant Brands International Inc.

have together spent more than $1 million to lobby lawmakers between 2021 and June 30 of this year, primarily on the Fast Act, state records show.

The International Franchise Association, which represents some 1,200 franchise brands, has spent $615,000 lobbying against the Fast Act and other legislation in that time.

Disclosures for lobbying spending since July 1 aren’t due until later this year, but industry advocacy against the bill has ramped up considerably during that time, people familiar with the effort said.

Labor unions have collectively spent more than $5 million to lobby the Legislature since the beginning of 2021, mostly on the Fast Act, state records show.

McDonald’s has encouraged franchisees around the country to email California lawmakers urging them to vote against the bill, according to a message viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

State Sen. Shannon Grove, a Republican, said on the Senate floor Monday that McDonald’s representatives told her that if the Fast Act becomes law, the company could stop expanding in California or leave altogether.

“Could we really survive without the golden arches?” Ms. Grove said.

Write to Heather Haddon at heather.haddon@wsj.com and Christine Mai-Duc at christine.maiduc@wsj.com

Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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World

Business Losses From Russia Top $59 Billion as Sanctions Hit

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Global companies have racked up more than $59 billion in losses from their Russian operations, with more financial pain to come as sanctions hit the economy and sales and shutdowns continue, according to a review of public statements and securities filings.

Almost 1,000 Western businesses have pledged to exit or cut back operations in Russia, following its invasion of Ukraine, according to Yale researchers.

Many are reassessing the reported value of those Russian businesses, as a weakening local economy and a lack of willing buyers render once-valuable assets worthless. Companies under U.S. and international reporting standards have to take impairment charges, or write-downs, when the value of an asset declines.

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When or how do you expect companies to recover from their losses in Russia? Join the conversation below.

The write-downs to date span a range of industries, from banks and brewers to manufacturers, retailers, restaurants and shipping companies—even a wind-turbine maker and a forestry firm. The fast-food giant

McDonald’s Corp.

expects to record an accounting charge of $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion after agreeing to sell its Russian restaurants to a local licensee;

Exxon Mobil Corp.

took a $3.4 billion charge after halting operations at an oil and gas project in Russia’s Far East; Budweiser brewer

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA

took a $1.1 billion charge after deciding to sell its stake in a Russian joint venture.

“This round of impairments is not the end of it,” said Carla Nunes, a managing director at the risk-consulting firm Kroll LLC. “As the crisis continues, we could see more financial fallout, including indirect impact from the conflict.”

The financial fallout of the conflict isn’t significant for most multinationals, in part because of the relatively small size of the Russian economy. Fewer than 50 companies account for most of the $59 billion tally. Even for those, the Russian losses are typically a relatively small part of their overall finances. McDonald’s, for example, said its Russia and Ukraine businesses represented less than 3% of its operating income last year.

Some companies are writing off assets stranded in Russia. The Irish aircraft leasing company

AerCap Holdings

NV last month took an accounting charge of $2.7 billion, which included writing off the value of more than 100 of its planes that are stuck in the country. The aircraft were leased to Russian airlines. Other leasing companies are taking similar hits.

Other businesses are assuming that they will realize no money from their Russian operations, even before they have finalized exit plans. The British oil major

BP

PLC’s $25.5 billion accounting charge on its Russian holdings last month included writing off $13.5 billion of shares in the oil producer

Rosneft.

The company hasn’t said how or when it plans to divest its Russian assets.

BP’s $25.5 billion accounting charge on its Russian holdings include writing off $13.5 billion of shares in oil producer Rosneft.



Photo:

Yuri Kochetkov/EPA/Shutterstock

Even some companies that are retaining a presence in Russia are writing down assets. The French energy giant

TotalEnergies

SE took a $4.1 billion charge in April on the value of its natural-gas reserves, citing the impact of Western sanctions targeting Russia.

The Securities and Exchange Commission last month told companies that they have to disclose Russian-related losses clearly, and that they shouldn’t adjust revenue to add back the estimated income that has been lost because of Russia.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp.

, which in March said it had stopped new banking business in Russia, appeared to breach this guidance when it reported its results for the first three months of this year. The New York custody bank in April reported $4 billion in revenue under one measure that included $88 million added to reflect income lost because of Russia.

A BNY Mellon spokesman declined to comment.

Investors appear to have mixed reactions to the write-downs, partly because most multinationals have relatively small Russian exposure, academic research suggests.

Financial markets are “rewarding companies for leaving Russia,” a recent study by Yale School of Management found. The share-price gains for companies pulling out have “far surpassed the cost of one-time impairments for companies that have written down the value of their Russian assets,” the researchers concluded.

Bank of New York Mellon said earlier this year that it had stopped new banking business in Russia.



Photo:

Gabriela Bhaskar/Bloomberg News

Research using a different methodology found a more subtle investor reaction. Analysis by Indiana University professor Vivek Astvansh and his co-authors of the short-term market impact of more than 200 corporate announcements revealed a marked trans-Atlantic divide. Investors punished U.S. companies for pulling out of Russia, and non-American companies for not withdrawing, the analysis found.

More write-downs and other Russia-related accounting charges are expected in the coming months, as companies complete their planned departures from the country.

British American Tobacco

PLC, whose brands include Rothmans and Lucky Strike, said on March 11 it had “initiated the process to rapidly transfer our Russian business.” That transfer is still ongoing, according to a BAT spokeswoman. BAT hasn’t taken an impairment in relation to the business.

Accounting specialist

Jack Ciesielski

said companies might hold off announcing a write-down until they have a good handle on how big the loss will be.

“You don’t want to put a number out there until you’re confident that it’s not likely to change,” said Mr. Ciesielski, owner of investment research firm R.G. Associates Inc.

The ruble’s recovery is helping Russia prop up its economy and continue its Ukraine war effort. WSJ’s Dion Rabouin explains how Russia boosted its ailing currency and how it is affecting the global economy. Illustration: Ryan Trefes

Many companies are giving investors rough estimates about what to expect on Russia-related losses.

The manufacturer

ITT Inc.,

which has suspended its operations in Russia, said last month it expects a $60 million to $85 million hit to revenue this year because of a “significant reduction in sales” in the country. That is a small slice of the $2.8 billion in total revenue for the maker of specialty components for the auto, aerospace and energy industries.

As sanctions weaken the Russian economy, businesses still operating there are reassessing their future earnings and booking losses. Ride-sharing giant

Uber Technologies Inc.

in May took a $182 million impairment on the value of its stake in a Russian taxi joint-venture because of forecasts of a protracted recession in the Russian economy. Uber said in February it was looking for opportunities to accelerate its planned sale of the stake.

—Thomas Gryta and Nick Kostov contributed to this article.

Write to Jean Eaglesham at jean.eaglesham@wsj.com

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Business

Amazon to Hire 125,000 Workers With Average Starting Pay at $18 an Hour

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The logo of Amazon at a distribution center.


Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images


Amazon.com

is hiring more than 125,000 drivers and warehouse workers and will pay them a starting average wage of more than $18 an hour —and up to $22.50 in some places, the internet retailer announced Tuesday.

The jobs will be both part time and full time, and in all regions of the country—from Arizona and Indiana to New Jersey and Florida.

Workers in certain locations also will get a sign-on bonus of up to $3,000, which shows just how competitive the job market is. Amazon (ticker: AMZN) didn’t specify the locations where either the bonus or the higher wage will be paid.

Amazon now pays one of the highest minimum wages—if not the highest—by a U.S. retailer. In 2018, the tech giant established a minimum wage of $15 an hour, more than double the federal minimum wage of $7.25.

In the past few years, other retailers and consumer-based companies have raised their minimum wages. This year alone,

Walmart

(WMT),

Costco Wholesale

(COST),

Chipotle Mexican Grill

(CMG), and

McDonald’s

(MCD) have increased their starting pay.

Amazon let one of its warehouse workers in Miami speak to the benefits of its higher pay.

“Before Amazon, I was at a car wash making $9 an hour. Then I came to Amazon and I started earning $15 an hour—it was life-changing for me,” said Leonardo, who the company didn’t identify by his last name.

Amazon is on a hiring spree. At the beginning of September, the company announced it will fill 40,000 corporate and technology jobs; since the pandemic began in March 2020, Amazon has hired more than 450,000 people in the U.S.  

Tuesday’s announcement ties in with its offer last week to pay 100% of college tuition for more than 750,000 U.S. employees.

Also read: This Robot Trader Just Turned Bullish on Amazon, Facebook and Nvidia. Here’s What It Sold.

Amazon shares closed down 0.21%, to $3,450, on Tuesday. The stock has gained almost 6% so far this year and has risen 9.3% over the past 12 months, lagging the

S&P 500’s

18% and 31% gains over the same periods.

Write to editors@barrons.com

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Business

Krispy Kreme Stock Gains Nearly 24% in IPO

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Doughnuts on a production line inside a Krispy Kreme Doughnuts store in Times Square in Manhattan.


Angus Mordant/Bloomberg


Krispy Kreme

led a group of six companies to the public markets on Thursday.

Besides the doughnut chain,

Acumen Pharmaceuticals,


D-MARKET Electronic Services & Trading,


Evercommerce,


Torrid Holdings,

and the

Glimpse Group

made their stock-market debuts.

So far this week, 17 companies, including those six, have listed their shares. There are no initial public offerings on tap for Friday because of the holiday weekend. On Wednesday, 10 companies went public, with

Didi Global,

the Uber of China, trading flat and closing at $14.14, 14 cents above its offering price.

On Thursday, Acumen Pharmaceuticals (ticker: ABOS) was one of the first to begin trading. The stock opened at $25.07 and closed at $20.10, up nearly 26% from the offering price.

The solid performance came after Acumen increased the size of its deal by nearly 20%. The biotech company, which is developing therapies to treat Alzheimer’s disease, collected about $160 million. It sold roughly 10 million shares at $16, the top of its $14-to-$16 range.

The Glimpse Group (VRAR), which develops and commercializes virtual and augmented reality software products, also opened. Shares kicked off at $11.75 and ended at $17.66, up 152% from its offer price. Glimpse delivered Thursday’s smallest deal. The company collected $12.3 million, after selling 1.75 million shares at $7, the midpoint of its $6-to-$8 price range.

Torrid Holdings (CURV) shares rose 15% from the offer price to close at $24.15. The direct-to-consumer retailer of plus-sized women’s clothes increased the size of its deal twice. It filed to offer 8 million shares at $18 to $21, which it boosted Wednesday to 10 million. It ended up selling 11 million shares at $21, the top of its expected range, raising $231 million. Sycamore Partners, the retail-focused private-equity firm, will own nearly 76% of Torrid after the IPO. 

Krispy Kreme (DNUT), the most well-known of Thursday’s group, kicked off at $16.30 and ended at $21, up nearly 24% from the offer price. The doughnut chain increased the size of its deal by 10% but priced it well below its expected range to raise $500 million. Krispy Kreme had planned to offer 26.7 million shares at $21 to $24 each, but ended up selling 29.4 million shares at $17 each. JAB Holding, the European investment firm, will own about 39% of Krispy Kreme after the IPO

D-Market Electronic Services & Trading, or Hepsiburada (HEPS), jumped nearly 12% from its offer price to close at $13.43. Hepsiburada, which means “you can find anything you want here” in Turkish, is a leading e-commerce platform from Istanbul. The company raised $680 million after selling 56,740,000 American depositary shares at $12 each, the midpoint of its $11-to-$13 price range. Each ADS represents one class B ordinary share.

Lastly, EverCommerce (EVCM) stock opened at $20, but slipped back to close nearly 4% above its offer price at $17.60. EverCommerce’s IPO came in at $325 million after the comp[any sold 19.1 million shares at $17, the middle of its $16-to-$18 range. The company provides software for small and midsize service businesses.

Write to luisa.beltran@barrons.com

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Business

Krispy Kreme and 5 Other IPOs to Begin Trading

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Text size

Doughnuts on a production line inside a Krispy Kreme Doughnuts store in Times Square in Manhattan.


Angus Mordant/Bloomberg


Krispy Kreme

is leading a group of six companies to the public markets on Thursday.

Besides the doughnut chain,

Acumen Pharmaceuticals,


D-MARKET Electronic Services & Trading,


Evercommerce,


Torrid Holdings,

and the

Glimpse Group

opened for trading.

So far this week, 17 companies, including the current six, have listed their shares. There are no initial public offerings on tap for Friday because of the holiday weekend. On Wednesday, 10 companies went public, with

Didi Global,

the Uber of China, trading flat and closing at $14.14, 14 cents above its offering price.

On Thursday, Acumen Pharmaceuticals (ticker: ABOS) was one of the first to begin trading. The stock opened at $25.07, hit a high of $26.98, and recently changed hands in afternoon trading at $20.98, up 31% from the offering price.

The solid performance came after Acumen increased the size of its deal by nearly 20%. The biotech company, which is developing therapies to treat Alzheimer’s disease, collected about $160 million. It sold roughly 10 million shares at $16, the top of its $14-to-$16 range.

The Glimpse Group (VRAR), which develops and commercializes virtual and augmented reality software products, also opened. Shares kicked off at $11.75, peaked at $16.44, and recently traded at $12.95, up nearly 85%. Glimpse delivered Thursday’s smallest deal. The company collected $12.3 million, after selling 1.75 million shares at $7, the midpoint of its $6-to-$8 price range.

Torrid Holdings (CURV) began trading, with shares rising 15% from its offering price to $24.18 in afternoon trading. The plus-size, direct-to-consumer women’s retailer increased the size of its deal twice. It filed to offer 8 million shares at $18 to $21, which it boosted Wednesday to 10 million. It ended up selling 11 million shares at $21, the top of its expected range, raising $231 million. Sycamore Partners, the retail-focused private-equity firm, will own nearly 76% of Torrid after the IPO. 

Krispy Kreme (DNUT), the most well-known of Thursday’s group, kicked off at $16.30, peaked at $20.17 and recently changed hands at $19.57, up 15% from the offer price. The doughnut chain increased the size of its deal by 10% but priced well below its expected range to raise $500 million. Krispy Kreme had planned to offer 26.7 million shares at $21 to $24 each, but ended up selling 29.4 million shares at $17 each. JAB Holding, the European investment firm, will own about 39% of Krispy Kreme after the IPO

D-Market Electronic Services & Trading, or Hepsiburada (HEPS), jumped 8% from its offer price and is trading at $13. Hepsiburada, which means “you can find anything you want here” in Turkish, is a leading e-commerce platform from Istanbul. The company raised $680 million after selling 56,740,000 American depositary shares at $12 each, the midpoint of its $11-to-$13 price range. Each ADS represents one class B ordinary share.

Lastly, Evercommerce (EVCM) also began trading. The stock opened at $20, hit a high of $21 and recently changed hands at $17.46, up nearly 3% from the offer price. Evercommerce’s IPO came in at $325 million after selling 19.1 million shares at $17, the middle of its $16-to-$18 range. The company provides SaaS software for small and midsize service businesses.

Write to luisa.beltran@barrons.com

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Business

15 CEOs Reflect on Their Pandemic Year and the Lessons They’ve Learned

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Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Chris Nassetta worked from home in Arlington, Va., with his wife, six daughters and two dogs for two weeks before returning to the hotel chain’s nearly empty headquarters for the rest of the past year. Sharmistha Dubey has been leading Match Group Inc. from her dining room table near Dallas. Herman Miller ’s Andi Owen has her dog Finn to keep her company while working from her home office in Grand Rapids, Mich. Moderna Inc. CEO Stéphane Bancel relishes twice-daily 30-minute walks between his home in Boston and the vaccine maker’s Cambridge offices, where he resumed working in August, so he can crystallize his priorities and reflect on the day. The Wall Street Journal photographed them and 11 other business leaders in their pandemic office spaces as they discussed the past year and what’s to come.

More than a year after the coronavirus upended the way we work, the business leaders said they have found that more communication, flexibility and transparency have been crucial in staying connected to their employees.

Heads of companies across sectors including finance, hospitality and technology spoke from their current workspaces about what they’ve learned from the largely remote year, what challenges they faced and what changes they plan to leave in place during the next phase of work.

Brad Karp, chairman of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, predicted his schedule will remain less hectic after the pandemic is over: “Personally, I can’t see myself reflexively flying cross-country for an hour-long presentation or meeting.”

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