Latest news with #bosses
The Sun
5 hours ago
- Business
- The Sun
Iconic homeware chain HALVES its UK workforce as bosses focus on ‘nailing the basics' after £20million sales slump
HOMEWARE giant Wayfair has slashed its UK workforce by more than half in just two years, as it grapples with tumbling sales and a sharp drop in profit. The US -based furniture retailer, which operates across Britain, cut staff numbers from 847 in 2022 to just 405 by the end of 2024, according to fresh filings with Companies House. 2 The dramatic reduction follows a tough period for the business, with UK turnover plunging from £83.4million in 2022 to just £59.4million last year. Profits also took a hit, with pre- tax earnings slipping from £2.6million to £2.2million over the same period. Wayfair said it had made a 17 per cent cut to administrative expenses and was now focused on 'driving cost efficiency' and 'nailing the basics' as it tried to steady the ship. Despite the ongoing slowdown, bosses remain upbeat about the retailer's long-term prospects and said the group is working towards maintaining profitability and generating positive free cash flow. The wider company reported a net revenue of $11.9billion (£8.8billion) globally last year – down $152million (£112million) on the year before. International sales fell to $1.5billion (£1.1billion), while revenue in its core US market dropped to $10.4billion (£7.7billion). Wayfair recorded a net loss of $492million (£363million) despite raking in $3.6billion (£2.7billion) in gross profits. There was some relief in early 2025, as first-quarter results showed a $1billion (£740million) rise in total revenue, thanks to a modest recovery in US sales. However, international takings continued to fall, dipping by $37million (£27million) to $301million (£223million). Iconic department store follows Macy's and reveals it's 'forced' to close down in weeks after 'more than a century' Wayfair isn't the only retailer feeling the pinch on the high street. Furniture favourite collapsed into administration in 2022 after failing to find a buyer, leading to hundreds of job losses. Habitat also shut down all standalone stores in 2021, moving exclusively online after years of underperformance. Even major players have been forced to adapt. Wilko closed its doors for good in 2023 after nearly a century in business, with more than 400 stores shutting and 12,000 staff affected. Argos has continued to reduce its physical footprint, shutting dozens of standalone shops and moving into parent company Sainsbury's stores to save costs. Retail experts say changing consumer habits, rising costs and weaker demand are continuing to batter the home and furniture sector. Many shoppers have tightened their belts amid soaring bills and higher interest rates, with big-ticket items like sofas and beds often the first to be cut from household budgets. Wayfair bosses said the company remains 'resilient' in the face of economic uncertainty and is pressing ahead with its long-term strategy to streamline operations and stay competitive. RETAIL PAIN IN 2025 The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion. Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April. A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024. Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure. The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year. It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year. Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025." Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector. "By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020." 2
Wall Street Journal
4 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
AI Is Wrecking an Already Fragile Job Market for College Graduates
What do you hire a 22-year-old college graduate for these days? For a growing number of bosses, the answer is not much—AI can do the work instead.
Bloomberg
11-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Big Banks Are Tired of Losing Recruits to Private Equity
By and Hannah Levitt Save JPMorgan Chase & Co. bosses grew curious last summer as they clocked an unusual number of absences at the training sessions that kicked off their ultra-competitive junior analyst program. The reason, they discovered: new recruits had skipped the mandatory onboarding to interview at private equity firms for their second jobs — even though they were just days into their first.
Forbes
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33' Too Hard? Here's The Maelle Nuke Build
Expedition 33 Sandfall My current GOTY, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, has Acts and Epilogues that keep topping each other as you move through the story, ultimately culminating in endgame content that you really need to play, as it A) also has some key story things and B) is a lot of fun. That fun, however, can have its limits as some of these bosses can get absurd to fight whether it's their one-hit damage or their giant health bars. But if you don't want to spend two hours memorizing a fight and hacking them down, the game has helpfully supplied a one-shot build that will take you through 99% of the biggest bosses in the game with ease. (Not going to get into endgame spoilers in this piece, but there is one thing you need to know about the early story). Is it 'cheating'? Not technically but if you want to just find these story components or cool rewards, it's Maelle nuke time. This is not worth doing until after you can get past the 9999 damage cap at the end of the main story, fyi. But there is one key thing near the start of the game, so here's a very, very big warning: Expedition 33 Sandfall Medalum – This is the key to the entire thing. It's not impossible to do good damage without it, but you're crippling the entire concept. The reason being is that the sword starts you in Virtuose stance which is a massive damage increase for your first hit. The problem is you need to get this sword early or else it's going to be a giant pain later. In the Gestral village you will participate in a tournament where you pick a character and win with them alone. That character gets a unique weapon. That unique weapon for Maelle is Medalum. If you miss it, you can either reload a past save, if you have one, or you can beat the village chief, Golgra, with Maelle much later in the game. She is extremely hard, and I do not recommend this. (Ironically once you do get Medalum you can now one-shot farm Golgra for materials). Stendhal – This is your one shot move, an eight energy giant blast of Void damage that will combine all your buffs for the tens of millions of damage you will get. Stats – Give what Stendhal needs. I have 99 in Agility and Defense to increase A and S rank affinity. I have 72 in luck instead of Might for a 68% crit chance which is another 50% damage. That could easily be 100% if I did a few different main Pictos. Expedition 33 Sandfall Pictos – It doesn't super matter what your three main ones for stats are (I'd recommend any with crit or speed, but it's not mandatory), but the passives are important. You need essentially every damage buff you have that stack multiplicatively, many of which will apply to only your initial hit, hence the one-shotting. The current essentials list I have for my 50-70 million hits: Confident Fighter – 30% damage increase but can't be healed – 30% damage increase but can't be healed Glass Canon – Deal 25% more damage but take 25% more damage – Deal 25% more damage but take 25% more damage Immaculate – 30% damage increase until a hit is received. – 30% damage increase until a hit is received. First Offensive – 50% damage increase for first hit given and received – 50% damage increase for first hit given and received Full Strength – 25% increased damage on full health – 25% increased damage on full health Augmented First Strike – 50% increased damage on the first hit, once per battle – 50% increased damage on the first hit, once per battle Energizing Starts – You need enough of these to get up to the 8 power you need to do the move immediately. Sciel can help with this though. – You need enough of these to get up to the 8 power you need to do the move immediately. Sciel can help with this though. First Strike – Play first, so a faster monster won't hit you first I also have other things active that may be needed for different scenarios, multiple enemies for instance, Energy Master, Cheater and Second Chance. But if you keep playing after the big initial hit your damage is going to crash a good amount. Phantom Strike – This isn't part of the main one-shot build but if you are facing multiple enemies you can use this as your first move instead of Stendhal to do huge damage or even full wipes. Expedition 33 Sandfall Sciel is a good boost for this build as well. You can make her have First Strike as well and she can buff Maelle before she goes. All Set – This gives Shell, Powerful and Rush immediately, Powerful being a boost for Maelle. With Energizing skills this will also max her AP easily. – This gives Shell, Powerful and Rush immediately, Powerful being a boost for Maelle. With Energizing skills this will also max her AP easily. Intervention - If you need to keep going with your team with multiple enemies, this gives Maelle a turn immediately and AP to do her Stendhal if she doesn't have it. I know there are ways to push way beyond by 70 million, but that's enough to one-shot any boss in the game, including its hardest one, and everything else from these 150 million to 4 billion damage variants are just for fun, and often require a ton more Pictos points you may not have. This will take you far. All the way, in fact. Follow me on Twitter , YouTube , Bluesky and Instagram . Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy .
