Wendy's surge pricing, Best Buy store closures, Toyota recalls and more

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Image for article titled Wendy's surge pricing, Best Buy store closures, Toyota recalls, Ozempic competitors: Business news roundup — Photo: 4kclips (Shutterstock), Bruce Bennett (Getty Images), Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg (Getty Images), Shannon Stapleton (Reuters), Image: Shutterstock (Shutterstock), NurPhoto (Getty Images), Toyota Motor, SOPA Images (Getty Images), Lionel Ng/Bloomberg (Getty Images), Lisa Baertlein (Reuters)

Wendy’s backtracked. Best Buy started closing some stores. Toyota recalled a lot of cars. Ozempic got some competition in the weight loss drug market. And much more.

Check out the slideshow above for a look at those stories and more of the biggest business news of the weekend.

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Wendy’s says it won’t do ‘surge pricing’ after all, backtracking after a backlash

Wendy’s would like a word about the difference between “dynamic pricing” and “surge pricing.” After a flurry of attention this week to comments by CEO Kirk Tanner during the fast food chain’s February earnings call, Wendy’s now says it has “no plans” to raise prices when demand is highest.

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Best Buy is closing stores and planning layoffs as sales slip

Best Buy plans to allocate its resources towards other areas, such as AI.

The sales floor at Best Buy may look emptier moving forward. That’s because the consumer electronics company is planning to scale back on its workforce, according to CEO Corie Barry.

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The weight loss drug competition with Ozempic is heating up as another company’s stock almost doubled

Ozempic needle — Novo Nordisk’s stock currently sits at $121 and Eli Lilly at a whopping $765

The race is on to break up the current weight loss drug duopoly held by Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Ozempic and Wegovy, and Eli Lilly, the maker of Zepbound.

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Toyota has recalled more than 680,000 cars in less than a week over safety concerns

Toyota Motor Co. has recalled more than 380,000 Tacoma pickup trucks due to safety concerns.

According to four recall notices posted in less than a week, Toyota Motor has warned consumers that more than 680,000 of its vehicles may suffer issues that could increase the risk of crashes.

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The Wendy’s surge pricing blunder was a PR dumpster fire

Wendy’s drive thru in Farmingdale, New York.

Wendy’s has had a bad week. Actually, it’s had a bad month.

The fast food chain reported earnings Feb. 15 that missed Wall Street’s expectations and sent the stock down as much as 7% in the days that followed.

Then came a flurry of media attention centered on a single comment made by CEO Kirk Tanner during Wendy’s earnings call with investors. “Beginning as early as 2025, we will begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing and daypart offerings, along with AI-enabled menu changes and suggestive selling,” he said.

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The AI craze has companies even ‘more overvalued’ than during the 1990s dot-com bubble, economist says

Apollo Global Management signage — Photo: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg (Getty Images)

With tech companies and stocks buzzing amid a tight race in AI development, one economist is warning that the current AI hype has surpassed the 1990s dot-com era bubble.

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Hulu and Disney+ are losing subscribers as the streaming industry struggles to turn a profit

The average churn rate for U.S. streamers has nearly tripled to 5.5% over the past four years, report says.

Image: SOPA Images (Getty Images)

Only three U.S. video subscription services have managed to turn a profit in the 17 years since Netflix launched the streaming revolution: Netflix, Hulu, and most recently Warner Bros. Discovery.

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Hyundai and more of the safest cars on the road, according to new rankings

Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 electric vehicle was among 15 SUVs to win first-class awards from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s 2024 ranking.

There are a lot of factors people need to consider when buying a new car, from financing to insurance rates to fuel efficiency. But, for many people, safety is one of their top concerns.

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AT&T is giving customers credits after a big service outage — but it won’t cost the company much

Signage for an AT&T store is seen in New York City

AT&T said over the weekend that it will give $5 back to its wireless customers impacted by the telecom’s widespread network outage last week.

About 1.5 million customers of the country’s largest wireless provider had filed outage reports as of Feb. 22, according to Bloomberg. AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday morning. But if AT&T only gives credits back to those 1.5 million customers, it would spend $7.5 million.

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The FTC sued to stop Kroger from buying Albertsons, warning of ‘grocery price hikes’

The deal between Kroger and Albertsons would be the largest supermarket merger in U.S. history.

The Federal Trade Commission has sued to block the $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons by rival grocer Kroger, alleging the deal would harm American consumers already facing high grocery bills.

Wendy's surge pricing, Best Buy store closures, Toyota recalls, Ozempic competitors: Business news roundup

Plus, the AI craze has companies even "more overvalued" than during the dot-com bubble