Page 25 - ARUBA TODAY

BUSINESS Wednesday 7 June 2017
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Amazon offers Prime discount to those on government benefits

By A. D’INNOCENZIO lower-income shoppers. the Amazon Prime benefits tertainment benefits of a purchase of $35. Online
AP Retail Writer The world’s largest retailer like free shipping and un- Prime,” Greg Greeley, vice shoppers who collect their
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon has revamped its shipping limited streaming of movies president of Amazon Prime, purchases at a store get ex-
is making a play for low-in- program and improved and TV shows. said in a statement. tra discounts. And Walmart
come shoppers. other services to drive on- The typical Prime mem- Walmart has gained mo- has dramatically expand-
The online leader is offering line sales growth as it tries bership is $99 a year, but mentum in its online busi- ed its online offerings —
a discount on its pay-by- to narrow the gap with those who cannot afford ness, seeing its e-com- though it’s still far behind
month Prime membership Amazon. People who have to pay up front also have a merce sales soar 63 per- the hundreds of millions of
for people who receive a valid Electronic Benefits $10.99-a-month option. cent in its first quarter, up products at Amazon.com.
government assistance. Transfer card, used for pro- Amazon designed this op- from a 29 percent increase Amazon’s aim with the lat-
The move, announced grams such as the Supple- tion to make its “selection the previous period. It now est move is two-pronged,
Tuesday, is seen by some mental Nutrition Assistance and savings more acces- offers free-two-day ship- says Ken Perkins, president
analysts as an attempt to Programs, or food stamps, sible, including the many ping for online orders of its of research firm RetailMet-
go after rival Walmart’s will pay $5.99 per month for conveniences and en- most popular items with rics. q

GM shareholders reject proposal to split stock in 2

By TOM KRISHER long-term results.
AP Autos Writer “It gives me more resolve
DETROIT (AP) — General to make sure we work
Motors shareholders have harder, work faster, and
overwhelmingly turned continue to put great cars,
down an activist share- trucks and crossovers on
holder’s plan to split the the road,” she told report-
company’s stock into two ers before the vote.
classes. Only about 9 per- Barra also says the compa-
cent of the stockholders ny is prepared to handle
voted for the plan from an automotive downturn,
David Einhorn’s Greenlight an effort to allay investor
Capital hedge fund in a fears that the industry has
preliminary vote count. reached the peak of its
They also re-elected all business cycle in the U.S.,
11 GM board members, GM’s most lucrative mar-
rejecting the three candi- ket. U.S. sales so far this
dates backed by Green- year are down 2 percent
light. Einhorn proposed and likely will decline from
splitting the stock into last year’s record of 17.5
capital appreciation and The logo for General Motors decorates the entrance at the site of a GM information technology million vehicles.
center in Roswell, Ga. Shares of General Motors rose slightly Tuesday, May 30, 2017, as a proxy
dividend classes. He says fight escalated between the company and a hedge fund that wants to split its shares into two GM says it analyzed Green-
the plan would unlock the classes. light’s proposal and de-
stock’s value. GM shares (AP Photo/David Goldman) termined it risky because
have appreciated only it would pit one class of
about 4 percent since the riod, the Standard & Poor’s CEO Mary Barra says the says the company’s strat- shareholders against the
company returned to the 500 index has more than company will stay on its cur- egy of cutting costs, shed- other and could put the
public markets in Novem- doubled in value. The com- rent course even though ding underperforming busi- company’s investment
ber of 2010 after bankrupt- pany has made $42 billion the stock markets have yet nesses and trying to lead in grade credit rating at risk.
cy. During the same pe- in the past seven years. to reward those efforts. She new technology will deliver q
Macy’s warns about profit margins, sending shares lower

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO second quarter to be down exclusives and has been aged to hear that (Macy’s) ers is uncertain in the near
AP Retail Writer 1 percent from a year ago. testing new formats like off- has a number of broad- term,” Brian Tunick, an ana-
NEW YORK (AP) — Macy’s The warning dragged price stores. But the efforts based initiatives, we ac- lyst at RBC Capital Markets,
has warned investors that down shares of other major haven’t been enough to knowledge that most of said in an published note.
its profit margins would retailers including J.C. Pen- reverse the declines in cus- the initiatives are in earlier Macy’s shares dropped 8.2
keep shrinking this year, ney, Nordstrom and Kohl’s. tomer traffic and the string stages and whether they percent, or $1.96, to close
sending shares in the chain It also underscored the of quarterly declines for a can turn into real sales driv- at $21.90.q
tumbling more than 8 per- challenges ahead for tra- key sales measure.
cent and affecting other ditional chains, particularly With new CEO Jeff Gen-
department store stocks. clothing retailers, which are nette, Macy’s plans to
Randal J. Konik, a stock seeing increasing competi- scale back on promotions
analyst at Jefferies, said tion from online leader Am- while aiming to increase
the struggling department azon.com and people’s the exclusive merchan-
store chain told analysts at changing preferences dise it carries to account
an investor meeting Tues- away from clothing and for about 40 percent of
day that its gross profit mar- more toward experiences. total offerings, up from the
gin could be 0.6 percent to Under its former CEO Terry current 29 percent. It also
0.8 percent lower than last Lundgren, who stepped plans to work on improving
year. Konik said in a note down in March as part of the shopping experience
that Macy’s is expecting its a succession plan, Macy’s at its stores.
gross profit margins in the was trying to add more “Although we are encour-