REAL ESTATE
Wellington Management to grow within Atlantic Wharf office tower
Wellington Management will extend, and expand, its lease in a downtown Boston skyscraper for another decade, the building’s owner said Wednesday. Boston Properties, which owns the Atlantic Wharf office tower, said Wellington has signed a new 10-year lease for 524,000 square feet, giving the asset management firm 22 floors in the 31-story building. That’s an expansion of 66,000 square feet over their current lease. The move comes as the downtown office market stabilizes after 18 months of turmoil amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Many smaller companies have shrunk or eliminated offices amid a shift to remove work. And a few blue-chip companies, such as investment firm Columbia Threadneedle — which is also moving to Atlantic Wharf — have signed new leases for smaller amounts of space. But large tenants, such as Wellington, have largely held pat. Indeed the lease is the second-largest signed in downtown Boston since the pandemic hit, after Amazon agreed to take an entire 630,000 square foot building under construction in the Seaport. — TIM LOGAN
AUTOMOTIVE
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Volkswagen to pay N.H. $1.15m to settle case over emissions controls
Volkswagen Group of America and related companies are going to pay the state of New Hampshire $1.15 million in a settlement for the use of devices on some diesel vehicles that resulted in excess emissions of nitrogen oxides, the state attorney general’s office said. Volkswagen had installed software in the vehicles that turned off emissions controls, the office said. At times, this resulted in nitrogen oxide emissions estimated to be more than 30 times the allowed limit. The settlement resolves the last case between Volkswagen and the state related to the devices, which were discovered in 2015. That resulted in a settlement of about $204 million to New Hampshire in the form of an environmental trust fund, civil penalties for violations of consumer protection laws, and relief to vehicle owners and dealers, the office said in a news release Monday. In a similar settlement, Volkswagen agreed to pay Montana over $357,000. The agreements entail no admission of liability. New Hampshire and Montana are among five states, as well as Hillsborough County, Fla., and Salt Lake County, Utah, that brought such environmental claims against Volkswagen. The other states are Illinois, Ohio, and Texas, whose actions are pending, the spokesperson said. Volkswagen has paid more than $35 billion in fines, recall costs, and compensation to car owners over the diesel emissions matter. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
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RETAIL
Christmas in October at Target
Target is launching a discount promotional period in October, joining other retailers in pulling the start of Christmas shopping to before Halloween amid mounting supply-chain challenges and the possibility of merchandise shortages. The Target Deal Days promotion, Oct. 10-12, will offer discounts on thousands of items, including video games and kitchen appliances, the Minneapolis-based company said Wednesday. Target offered a similar savings period in June, overlapping with Amazon’s two-day Prime Day sale. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
RETAIL
The Dollar Tree to sell items for more than $1
Dollar Tree shares climbed the most since the start of the pandemic after the company boosted its share-repurchase authorization and said it would move above the $1-an-item price point that gave the discounter its name. The experiment signals the potential end of an era for Dollar Tree — which has long based its business on the $1 price point — as inflation pushes up the cost of many goods. Twelve-month growth in US consumer prices surged past the 5 percent mark this year for the first time in more than a decade as rising demand collided with supply constraints in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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RETAIL
Walmart to hire 150,000
Walmart is expanding its hiring push with plans to recruit 150,000 store employees, adding to US employers’ search for new workers as the busy holiday season approaches. Most of the jobs will be permanent and full-time positions, Walmart said in a statement Wednesday. The hiring goal comes on top of a plan the company announced a month ago to add 20,000 supply-chain workers. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
EYEWEAR
Warby Parker goes public
Warby Parker went public Wednesday, soaring more than 36 percent in its opening day of trading. Warby is one of a number of direct-to-consumer brands, like AllBirds and Fabletics, set to make market debuts in the coming months. Warby was one of the first brands born online that sought to combine the brand awareness that comes from stores with the reach of digital sales. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
RETAIL
Macy’s sues landlord over billboard on flagship building
Macy’s is suing its landlord over plans to allow a competing retailer to advertise on a billboard fixed to the department store’s New York City flagship. Macy’s said that Kaufman Realty Corp. was in conversation with a “prominent online retailer” months before its contract for the billboard expired in August, according to a filing in New York State court. The chain said it believes the competitor is Amazon, though the online giant isn’t named in the lawsuit. Competing retailers are prohibited from advertising there under an agreement signed in 1963, according to the filing. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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E-COMMERCE
Shoppers will be spending more and getting less online this holiday season
Online shoppers will be buying less this holiday season, but spending more. Holiday e-commerce could rise 7 percent during November and December to reach a record $1.2 trillion globally, according to a Salesforce forecast released on Wednesday. While the actual amount of dollars spent is seen rising, shoppers will likely be purchasing fewer items. That’s because inflation will make gifts as much as 20 percent more expensive compared to last year, according to Salesforce. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
AUTOMOTIVE
Better get that gas-powered Rolls while you can
In nine years, Rolls-Royce will stop selling vehicles that run on gasoline, CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös said in a Sept. 29 announcement. The first of the company’s planned all-electric portfolio, the Spectre sedan, will arrive by the fourth quarter of 2023. Müller-Ötvös described the news as the most important decision in the history of the brand since Charles Rolls and Henry Royce agreed they would build cars together on May 4, 1904. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
INTERNATIONAL
France accuses Britain of violating Brexit deal on fishing
France warned that the UK is in breach of the Brexit deal after it denied several small European Union fishing boats access to its territorial waters, ratcheting up diplomatic tensions between the two countries. The UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said earlier that out of 47 applications to fish in British waters made by small vessels, 12 licenses have been granted. The other licenses weren’t granted because the boats weren’t able to show sufficient evidence of having fished in the waters historically, the department said. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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INSURANCE
Climate change biggest worry of insurers
Climate change has returned to the top of the list of insurers’ biggest concerns as the vaccine roll-out and gradual lifting of health restrictions see pandemic fears ease in many countries. Global warming was ranked as the biggest risk to society over the next five to 10 years in a report released Tuesday by French insurance giant AXA SA. While that also topped the ranking in 2018 and 2019, it was outstripped by diseases and pandemics last year as the virus spread across the globe. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
MEDIA
YouTube closes two channels of Russian state broadcaster over COVID misinformation
YouTube says it has shut two German channels of Russian state broadcaster RT in a move centering on alleged coronavirus misinformation, a decision that drew threats of retaliation from Russia on Wednesday. YouTube, which is owned by Google, said RT’s German branch had received a “strike” for uploading material that violated YouTube’s standards on COVID-19 misinformation, and as a consequence was suspended from uploading new videos to its channel. — ASSOCIATED PRESS