Ulta CEO says e-commerce sites can do more to stop the sale of stolen goods

Read CNBC’s full investigation into the alleged organized theft groups that police say are stealing and reselling items from retailers including Ulta Beauty, T.J. Maxx and Walgreens.

Faced with sophisticated organized retail crime rings that investigators say have targeted his company, Ulta Beauty CEO Dave Kimbell is laying some blame on e-commerce sites.

In the first in-depth interview given by a retail CEO about organized theft, Kimbell responded to a monthslong CNBC investigation that showed how police broke up what they say is a professional network of thieves who used Amazon to resell millions in cosmetics stolen from Ulta stores and other retailers across the U.S.

While Kimbell wouldn’t comment directly about Amazon, he said online marketplaces are “part of the problem.”

“[Online marketplaces] give more scale and more opportunity for people to liquidate this product,” Kimbell told CNBC in an on-camera interview. “You used to have to sell stolen goods at flea markets or out of the trunk of your car, or maybe just locally. Now, you have more sophisticated tools to have a broader reach across the country or even internationally.”

As part of an investigation into retail crime rings and the actions companies and law enforcement are taking to crack down on the problem, CNBC followed a case that involved Michelle Mack, a San Diego woman whom prosecutors accuse of using her Amazon digital storefront to resell goods stolen from stores.

The 53-year-old mother of three and her husband, Kenneth Mack, were charged with conspiracy to commit organized retail theft, grand theft and receipt of stolen property in connection with the alleged crime ring. During a raid at her California mansion in December, California Highway Patrol and Homeland Security agents say they found $387,000 in suspected stolen goods, most of which had come from Ulta. Investigators say her crime ring brought in millions of dollars over more than a decade. Both Michelle Mack and Kenneth Mack have pleaded not guilty. 

For Kimbell, the scale of such an operation wasn’t surprising.

“Unfortunately, I’m not that shocked because we’ve seen it in other parts of the country,” said Kimbell. “The magnitude of this one is significant. But this is what’s happening, and this is the environment in which we’re operating.”

Ulta Beauty CEO Dave Kimbell said online marketplaces need to do more to prevent the sale of stolen goods.

CNBC

Kimbell said he doesn’t think the onus is on consumers to evaluate whether a product they are buying from an online marketplace is stolen. Many shoppers may not even consider that the products could be stolen from one retailer and sold by another, he said, adding it’s a largely online phenomenon.

“That doesn’t happen in brick-and-mortar [stores]. You wouldn’t come into a retailer and see somebody [at] a table in front [selling] stolen goods,” Kimbell said. “We shouldn’t have an environment where it’s possible to steal from one retailer and [have it] end up on any other platform, any other large-scale, mainstream platform.”

Anyone who sells products online “should be committed to ensuring that nothing that they sell is stolen goods,” Kimbell said.

“I can tell you with 100% certainty, nothing that we sell at Ulta.com or any online platform is product that’s been stolen from another retailer,” he said. “There are tools, there’s data, there’s analytics, there’s capabilities that we collectively have that we could try to take even more action.”

Amazon declined CNBC’s request for an interview but said in a statement the e-commerce giant has “zero tolerance for the sale of stolen goods.” An Amazon spokesperson said the company invests $1 billion annually and employs “thousands of people” to combat fraud, including detection and prevention tools.

The spokesperson said Amazon works with law enforcement and other retailers to “stop bad actors and hold them accountable.”

In the Mack case, Amazon said it did not receive signals that would have indicated the seller was offloading stolen goods. Mack’s page was taken down after her arrest.

How bad is organized retail crime?

It’s unclear exactly how big of a problem organized retail crime is. The National Retail Federation and the Retail Industry Leaders Association say not every instance is reported, tracked or tallied.

According to the most recent NRF survey on shrink — the industry term for lost inventory from damage, theft or other sources — the total value of goods stolen in external theft instances totaled $40.5 billion in 2022, representing 36.15% of total shrink, compared with 37% in 2021.

Ulta Beauty is one of a number of retailers that have started to discuss retail crime as a problem but haven’t quantified how it is affecting their businesses. Ulta Beauty Chief Financial Officer Scott Settersten and Chief Operating Officer Kecia Steelman have discussed theft or organized retail crime specifically on earnings calls or at investor conferences. 

Ulta Beauty said it aims to have all of its fragrances locked up in stores in the first few months of this year. Fragrance has been one of the hardest-hit categories for the retailer because of its high value and the relative ease of reselling it, Kimbell said.

The CEO didn’t quantify the rise of organized retail crime his company has seen, but he said “it has definitely gotten worse.”

“Retail crime has been part of the retail industry forever … but what we’ve seen over the last few years, really the last couple of years, is a significant elevation,” he said.

Retail executives are increasingly worried about a rise in violence associated with theft, according to the NRF survey, with 81% reporting an increase in violence and 28% reporting that their company has closed a specific location because of crime. Ulta said it has not yet closed a store because of crime.

Kimbell said he is particularly concerned about how the rise in crime affects Ulta’s 50,000 employees across 1,400 stores around the country.

“These situations … they’re not fun … they’re threatening; they’re intimidating,” Kimbell said. “They can be traumatic.”

– Additional reporting by Ali McCadden.

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Inside the organized crime rings plaguing retailers including Ulta, T.J. Maxx and Walgreens

In a tony suburban enclave in the San Diego foothills, police say, an organized retail crime “queenpin” had built an empire.

Tucked behind the stone walls of her 4,500-square-foot Spanish-style mansion, Michelle Mack had stockpiled a small fortune in cosmetics that had been stolen from Ulta and Sephora stores across the country, authorities said. 

Police don’t suspect that Mack, 53, took the items herself. Instead, they say, she pulled the strings from the shadows, employing a network of around a dozen women who stole the items for her so she could resell them on Amazon.

Michelle Mack’s home in Bonsall, California, Dec. 6, 2023.

CNBC

With their airfare, car rentals and other travel expenses paid by Mack, the suspects committed hundreds of thefts up and down the California coast and into Washington, Utah, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, Illinois, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Ohio, investigators said. Mack selected which stores to target and what merchandise to take and the women were sent to clear out entire shelves of merchandise before making off with the stolen goods stuffed into Louis Vuitton bags, investigators said.

Investigators began referring to the theft group as the “California Girls” and considered Mack the crew’s ringleader. She made millions reselling the stolen items on Amazon to unwitting customers at a fraction of their typical retail price, investigators said, before she was arrested in early December.

Michelle Mack is taken into custody, Dec. 6, 2023.

CNBC

Law enforcement officials say Mack’s alleged theft ring is just one of the many that are plaguing U.S. retailers and costing them billions in losses annually. Their rise has led many companies to lock up merchandise, hire security guards and lobby lawmakers for stricter regulations.

These organized theft groups don’t typically carry out the splashy “smash and grab” robberies seen in viral videos. Instead, they pilfer goods quickly, quietly and efficiently. They often function within elaborate, organized structures that in some ways mimic the corporations they’re stealing from, police said.

CNBC has spent about eight months embedding with various law enforcement agencies and investigating theft groups to understand what organized retail crime looks like from the ground. In some cases, CNBC witnessed low-level shoplifting incidents involving people who appeared to be homeless or mentally ill. In other instances, CNBC saw takedowns of alleged organized theft groups that police said were reselling stolen merchandise at flea markets. Mack’s group, from her alleged network of professional thieves to her lucrative Amazon marketplace, was by far the most sophisticated one CNBC tracked alongside police.

California Highway Patrol officers arrest a retail crime suspect.

CNBC

But federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Homeland Security’s law enforcement branch, said some crime groups are even more elaborate — and theft is just one facet of their enterprises.

“We’re talking about operations that have fleets of trucks, 18-wheelers that have palletized loads of stolen goods, that have cleaning crews that actually clean the goods to make them look brand new,” said Adam Parks, an assistant special agent in charge at HSI, which is the main federal agency investigating retail crime.

“Just like any business, they’ve invested their capital into business assets like shrink wrap machines, forklifts,” Parks, who works out of HSI’s Baton Rouge, Louisiana, office, told CNBC in an interview. “That is what organized theft looks like, and it actually is indistinguishable from other e-commerce distribution centers.”

These theft groups in their myriad forms have become a thorn in the side of retailers big and small, prompting retailers to cite crime as the reason for lower profits, the inability to hire and retain staff, and the degradation of the in-store experience. They have also united politically divided Americans in their disdain for seeing everyday products locked up behind glass cases and witnessing brazen theft gone unchecked in stores.

Suspected stolen cosmetics found inside Michelle Mack’s home.

CNBC

Whether organized retail crime is actually rising is up for debate. Retailers including Target, Foot Locker, Walgreens and Ulta have said theft is a growing problem in recent years. But few have said how often it’s happening or how much money they’re losing from it, fueling accusations from some experts and analysts that they’re blaming crime in order to mask operational missteps.

The National Retail Federation estimates that retailers lost $40.5 billion to external theft, including organized retail crime, in 2022. That represented about 36% of total inventory losses — slightly lower than the 37% in 2021.

Even if theft has not meaningfully reduced some retailers’ profits, many have warned that crime can threaten the safety of workers and shoppers.

“The financial impact is real, but way more important is the human impact, the impact it has to our associates, the impact it has to our guests,” Ulta CEO Dave Kimbell told CNBC in a rare sit-down interview.

“It also impacts the communities in which we live,” he said. “If people don’t feel safe going in to shop in certain areas of a community, it really has an impact and can change neighborhoods and change communities over time.”

The government response to the issue has grown in turn. Both local and federal agencies have stepped up enforcement of laws targeting organized retail crime, and lawmakers are proposing and passing more measures that stiffen penalties for theft offenses.

HSI initiated 59 cases against organized theft groups in fiscal 2021, resulting in 55 indictments and 61 arrests, the agency said.

By the end of fiscal 2023, cases had more than tripled, to 199. Indictments spiked more than fivefold to 284, while arrests soared to 386, more than six times the number in 2021.

California Highway Patrol, which runs one of the most active retail crime task forces in the country, reports it made 170% more arrests for organized theft offenses in 2023 than it did in 2022.

It’s not clear whether organized theft offenses increased in that time or officials ramped up enforcement as the issue got more public attention and the retail industry’s lobbying engine pressed them to make it a priority.

CNBC embedded with teams from HSI and California Highway Patrol to witness four organized retail crime operations for this investigation. The probe is also based on more than a dozen interviews with law enforcement officers, retail leaders and customers, along with records, including court filings, company reports and property records.

New Orleans

On a sweltering Monday morning in July, about a dozen agents from HSI New Orleans gathered behind the U.S. Custom House, preparing for Operation French Quarter.

The officers were instructed to pose as shoppers inside three Walgreens stores and one CVS store in the area seeing high rates of theft, sometimes as many as 20 to 30 incidents per day, agents said.

As federal law enforcement agents who typically investigate terrorism, sex trafficking and gang leaders such as Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the officers weren’t there to arrest people for petty theft. They had a clear directive: Find out who’s stealing and follow them out of the store to determine who else they may be working with.

“Obviously, the name of the game, guys and girls, is trying to get the bigger and better fish,” Assistant Special Agent in Charge Scott Robles, who led the operation, told the assembled officers. “We’re trying to identify the people who are in charge of this organized crime.”

Assistant Special Agent in Charge Scott Robles of Homeland Security Investigations addresses a team of undercover agents in New Orleans, July 17, 2023.

CNBC

At the bottom of organized retail crime rings are boosters — the people who go into stores and take the items. Robles was hoping the serial thieves targeting the drugstores could lead them to a larger operation.

“It can be anybody. It could be the mom with five kids just looking for extra money. It can be somebody that’s part of a team. … They may be getting paid with food, they may be getting paid with beer or drugs,” Robles said. “Some people get paid cash or they’re trying to work off a debt.”

Throughout the hourslong operation, agents identified at least one case that they say plainly showed organized theft.

Surveillance footage of the incident shows a man enter one of the Walgreens stores, head to the cosmetics aisle, remove a plastic shopping bag from his pants and calmly load it up with 17 jars of nail polish, valued at around $200. He then walked about a half mile away to the New Orleans Public Library’s main branch, where he sold the nail polish to a security guard, police said.

Federal agents briefly questioned the security guard, and the incident remains under investigation.

Beyond that instance, the vast majority of the thefts agents witnessed during the operation were low-level and petty, involving people who appeared to be homeless, mentally ill or transient. One man stole paper towels and then walked into a homeless shelter. A group took a case of beer and later went to a park to drink it. A woman stole a case of water, set up a stand to resell it and then defecated on the sidewalk.

Operation French Quarter showed how the lowest level of a retail crime operation can function, and how even small thefts can involve coordination among bad actors. Still, the incidents underscore the challenges investigators face when trying to build cases; they also demonstrate just how petty many thefts are, especially in urban areas with high rates of homelessness and addiction.

A Walgreens spokesperson told CNBC that the chain is “focused on the safety of our patients, customers and team members” and is taking steps to “safely deter theft” and “deliver the best patient and customer experience.”

“We are working closely with law enforcement, elected officials and community leaders to draw greater attention to and improve our response to retail crime,” the spokesperson said.

San Jose

Crates filled with unopened jugs of Gain, Tide and Downy detergent. Boxes stuffed with Gillette razors, Olay moisturizer and Allegra allergy pills. A pile of sparkly silver boots in sizes 8, 9 and 10 with the T.J. Maxx tags still on.

This is just some of the merchandise that California Highway Patrol found inside a home and storage container belonging to suspected members of an organized retail crime ring during a raid in November.

A bin filled with sparkly silver boots that police suspect an alleged San Jose, California, crime ring stole from T.J. Maxx.

Gabrielle Fonrouge

In all, investigators uncovered nearly 20,000 items valued at more than $550,000 across five locations connected with the group, according to CHP. Police suspect the majority of the items were stolen from T.J. Maxx stores and a variety of drugstores and grocery stores in and around the Bay Area.

CHP’s probe began in September, when investigators from TJX Companies, the owner of T.J. Maxx, reached out to the agency’s organized retail crime task force with information about a crime ring that it said was buying and reselling stolen goods — a “fencing” operation.

When boosters need to cash in on the items they take, they turn to fencers, who buy the products for pennies on the dollar and resell them at a margin Wall Street could only dream of, retail crime investigators have said.

Experts said retailers can have a hard time persuading law enforcement to investigate theft at stores because it is often considered a property crime, which police tend to see as less urgent than homicides, shootings and narcotics crimes.

To show law enforcement the scope of the problem, TJX investigators began conducting surveillance on the alleged crime ring. CHP agreed to take the case. Sgt. Manny Nevarez, who oversees all organized retail crime investigations in the Bay Area for CHP, told CNBC the group had hit stores in multiple counties in an effort to evade detection.

“They are not catching on that some of the retailers have their own loss prevention personnel and typically, if you target one store in San Jose, then the word gets out and then the next store is notified,” said Nevarez. 

Sgt. Manny Nevarez oversees organized retail crime investigations in the Bay Area for California Highway Patrol.

CNBC

Police learned that alleged members of the group were reselling the suspected stolen merchandise out of their homes and at the local Capitol Flea Market — a sprawling swap meet on the outskirts of San Jose. Officers also witnessed members of the crew receiving suspected stolen merchandise, transferring those goods to others in their network and exchanging money.

At the end of November, dozens of CHP investigators working with TJX descended on the five locations connected with the alleged fencing ring and carried out search warrants in a raid cops dubbed “Operation Kingsfall.” The locations included numerous homes along with a storage unit. 

“Nosotros somos policia,” the officers shouted in Spanish outside one of the homes. “Police, search warrant. Open the door with your hands up,” they continued, switching between English and Spanish before using a battering ram to knock down the door.

Officers from California Highway Patrol approach a home suspected to be connected with an organized retail crime ring in San Jose, California, Nov. 28, 2023.

CNBC

The location, an innocuous single-family home with Christmas decorations out front, looked like any other on the block. But on the sidewalk and grass near the property line sat dozens of discarded clothing tags, anti-theft devices, hangers and other retail store detritus.

Inside the home, CHP officers and TJX personnel found mountains of goods they suspect were stolen to resell, including bags of apparel with the tags still affixed, boxes of Huggies diapers, liquor and power tools.

By the time authorities completed the raids, they had enough suspected stolen merchandise to fill three 20-foot-long U-Haul trucks. A spokesperson for the Santa Clara County District Attorney said it is charging nine defendants in connection with the alleged crime ring.

Investigators examine suspected stolen merchandise connected with an alleged organized retail crime ring in San Jose, California.

CNBC

The law enforcement operation witnessed by CNBC showed the breadth of some of the fencing rings in the U.S. and how flea markets can play a role in the sale of stolen goods. Capitol Flea Market didn’t respond to a request for comment. 

“There’s certain crimes that come up where the public reaches a point where they’re like, ‘We have had enough of this,’ right?” Lt. Michael Ball, who helped oversee the operation, told CNBC. “And this is one of those that’s reached that level where people are saying widely and shouting it all the way up to our governor’s office that they have had enough of this.”

In a statement, a TJX spokesperson said the company is “thankful” for CHP’s efforts and is taking organized retail crime “very seriously.” The spokesperson said TJX is “laser-focused on ways to mitigate theft in our stores.”

The company told CNBC it will not resell the recovered merchandise. If TJX considers the items to be in suitable condition, it will donate them to charities in the area where they were found, the company said. If it deems the products unsuitable, it will work to dispose of them “responsibly,” it said.

San Diego

When Donna Washburn started shopping for a Christmas gift for her daughter in December, she wanted to “splurge” and buy her a bottle of Nars foundation. But she couldn’t find it in stock at a store close to home.

So, like many consumers, she Googled the product. She saw it was available on Amazon and cost around $38 before tax, nearly 30% cheaper than its typical retail price of $52.

“I said, you know, ‘It’s Amazon, it’ll come fast.’ It was the beginning of December. So I really didn’t want to wait too much longer for Christmas,” Washburn told CNBC in an interview, adding she was told it would arrive by Dec. 11.

Donna Washburn bought a beauty product from Michelle Mack’s Amazon store that police suspect had been stolen.

CNBC

Unknown to Washburn, police say, that bottle of foundation had likely been stolen by the crew of boosters allegedly employed by Mack — the suspected retail crime mastermind accused of running an illicit business from her San Diego mansion.

The Christmas gift ultimately never arrived, because Mack was arrested before she could ship the package, which was one of many found in Mack’s residence by investigators.

“I pay attention, but not that much, you know?” said Washburn, a 63-year-old clinical education associate in St. Augustine, Florida. “I’m shopping from Amazon. Hopefully you can trust it. So now that we know better … we’ll think twice.”

Washburn had bought the foundation from an Amazon storefront dubbed Online Makeup Store, which Mack had opened in 2012. CNBC viewed it before it was taken down in late 2023.

Suspected stolen cosmetics found inside Michelle Mack’s home.

CNBC

On its face, Mack’s storefront looked no different from the millions of others on Amazon’s marketplace. It had 4.5 stars on more than 100 reviews, and featured cosmetics from popular brands such as Mac, Tarte and Charlotte Tilbury that shoppers can find in neighborhood beauty stores.

There was just one red flag: the prices. Many of the products for sale at Mack’s store were listed at a fraction of the typical retail price, including a $25 bottle of Estee Lauder foundation that typically retails for $52 and Too Faced mascara that typically goes for $29 and was being sold for $17.

The store brought in millions. Since 2012, Mack sold nearly $8 million in cosmetics through the storefront before it was shut down, and she brought in $1.89 million in 2022 alone, Amazon sales records provided to investigators show.

Mack could offer such low prices, police suspect, because her crew of boosters had stolen the products in hundreds of incidents over more than a decade. Some of the thefts brought in around $2,000 in merchandise while others netted as much as $50,000 worth of merchandise, prosecutors said.

Mack’s business was humming along ahead of the holiday shopping season until the carefully crafted empire police say she built crumbled. On a cool December morning just before dawn, a convoy of CHP and HSI agents, armed with a search warrant, raided her sprawling mansion.

Mack, dressed in a baby pink pajama set and a pair of fuzzy mule slippers, was handcuffed and put into a police car as her teenage daughters stood in the driveway, watching.

Inside her garage, investigators found what they described as a “mini-store” — shelves and shelves of beauty products, sunglasses and designer bags organized in neat bins and categorized by product. They also found hundreds of postmarked yellow envelopes destined for unwitting customers, including Washburn, with “Online Makeup Store” marked as the return address.

Police recovered nearly 10,000 items worth a total of more than $387,000, CHP said.

A California Highway Patrol evidence photo of suspected stolen goods taken from the garage of Michelle Mack, who is accused of masterminding an organized retail crime network from her home in San Diego.

Source: California Highway Patrol

A California Highway Patrol evidence photo of suspected stolen goods taken from the garage of Michelle Mack, who is accused of masterminding an organized retail crime network from her home in San Diego.

Source: California Highway Patrol

A California Highway Patrol evidence photo of suspected stolen goods taken from the garage of Michelle Mack, who is accused of masterminding an organized retail crime network from her home in San Diego.

Source: California Highway Patrol

In February, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a total of 140 felony charges against Mack; her husband, Kenneth Mack; and seven other alleged members of the crew. The charges included conspiracy to commit organized retail theft, grand theft and receipt of stolen property. The defendants have all pleaded not guilty. CNBC contacted each defendant multiple times for comment, but none of them responded.

“This is a multimillion-dollar criminal scheme. It was complex. It was orchestrated,” Bonta said when announcing the charges. “We are not talking about garden-variety shoplifting.”

Court records filed in connection with the case provide a rare glimpse into the inner workings of an alleged organized retail crime ring. They show text messages between the suspects and details about the operation.

“I’m not stealing regular I’m going to start filling up my bag quick. So I want to know stuff I can grab in bulks too,” Kimora Lee Gooding texted Michelle Mack on Jan. 7, 2023.

Between Jan. 30 and Feb. 16, 2023, Gooding committed at least 10 separate thefts at Ulta stores across California, prosecutors allege in court records. In each case, Gooding took more than $950 worth of goods, the records say.

On Feb. 21, a few days after Gooding’s string of thefts, Mack sent her a screenshot of “Online Makeup Store” with an address she could ship the stolen products to. It was the same business address that was listed on Mack’s Amazon page before it was shut down, and traced back to a post office box a few miles from her home.

“Even without lancome we still did well,” Michelle Mack texted her husband two days later, allegedly referencing a prestige cosmetics brand owned by L’Oreal.

Soon, orders were pouring into Michelle Mack’s Amazon store.

California Highway Patrol Officer Andrew Barclay outside Michelle Mack’s home during her arrest.

Scott Zamost

“Lots of orders let’s get shipping,” Kenneth Mack texted Michelle Mack alongside an image that showed a bin full of paper.

By July 8, it appeared that the haul Gooding and others had allegedly brought in had dried up. Michelle Mack needed more things to sell.

“Did you get some new girls?” Michelle Mack texted Alina Franco, another person charged in connection with the theft crew. “I really need product so if you have anything please let me know.”

A day later, two more thefts connected to the ring were committed and many more followed, prosecutors said.

In addition to Ulta and Sephora, the theft organization targeted a range of other retailers, including Macy’s-owned Bloomingdale’s, Prada, Bath & Body Works, Victoria’s Secret, and Luxottica’s Sunglass Hut and LensCrafters, prosecutors said.

Sephora and Bath & Body Works declined to discuss the case with CNBC. Victoria’s Secret, Macy’s, Prada, Sunglass Hut and LensCrafters didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Despite the recent surge of headlines and commentary on the topic, organized theft groups have long operated around the world. But retail industry leaders and some law enforcement officials argue the rise of online marketplaces and e-commerce has caused such incidents to increase or have made it easier for theft groups to operate.

“There’s an ease of distribution that has become even more prevalent for stolen goods through online marketplaces. … You used to have to sell stolen goods at flea markets or out of the trunk of your car or maybe just locally,” said Ulta’s Kimbell. “Now, you have more sophisticated tools to have a broader reach across the country or even internationally.”

Ulta Beauty CEO Dave Kimbell said online marketplaces need to do more to prevent the sale of stolen goods.

CNBC

While Kimbell didn’t name Amazon specifically, he said online marketplaces are “part of the problem” and should be using the data, analytics and other technology available to them to be more “proactive” in shutting down bad-actor sellers.

“We shouldn’t have an environment where it’s possible to steal from one retailer and [have it] end up on any other platform, any other large-scale, mainstream platform” that people consider legitimate, said Kimbell.

Bonta called on Amazon and other marketplaces to “do more.” He said they could inform law enforcement, or at least talk to a seller, when red flags such as unusually cheap goods pop up.

“If you freeze out the demand and remove the market by closing out the marketplace where the stolen goods are so easily sold, you make organized retail crime as an organized crime less attractive. And we need to create barriers, instead of ease, for the ability to commit these crimes,” Bonta said in an interview.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta discusses Michelle Mack’s case in an interview on Feb. 16, 2024.

CNBC

In response, an Amazon spokesperson said that the company has “zero tolerance for the sale of stolen goods” and that the company invests more than $1 billion annually in preventing fraud and abuse.

“We leverage sophisticated detection and prevention solutions across our stores and fulfillment operations, allowing us to quickly spot a range of organized retail crime (ORC) schemes,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

The spokesperson said Amazon supports efforts to trace items throughout the supply chain and investigates allegations of stolen merchandise to find out how products were obtained.

“When we identify an issue, we work closely with law enforcement, retailers, and brands to stop bad actors and hold them accountable, including withholding funds, terminating accounts, and making law enforcement referrals,” which have led to arrests, product seizures and the disruption of retail crime rings, the spokesperson wrote.

The company said it assisted with the investigation into Michelle Mack’s alleged theft crew and provided evidence to investigators. It said it’s “pleased” the suspects were arrested because it “sends a strong message that the sale of stolen goods has severe consequences.”

Consumers, many of whom are hungry for deals as they contend with lingering inflation and high interest rates, may feel that buying stolen goods is a victimless crime, experts say.

Michael Krol, HSI’s special agent in charge, disagrees with that idea. He said not only does theft lead to higher prices for consumers but also the items they’re buying could be unsafe because of how they were stored or otherwise manipulated.

“Those items might not have the quality assurance and compliance that we expect in the United States. Baby formula, your medicines … [Consumers] could be buying baby formula that’s expired by three months,” said Krol.

The Inform Consumers Act, which took effect in June, was designed to curb the sale of stolen, counterfeit or otherwise harmful products on online platforms by requiring marketplaces to verify and share identifying information on certain third-party sellers.

The law was designed to prevent the exact type of illicit business Michelle Mack is accused of conducting on Amazon. If sellers are required to provide their contact information to marketplaces and on their listings, bad actors may be deterred from selling illicit goods.

However, Michelle Mack’s business name and an address belonging to it had been verified and was publicly available on her seller’s page. She’d already been on the platform for more than a decade by the time the Inform Act rolled around.

The verification process that Amazon conducted for Michelle Mack’s store after the Inform Act passed wasn’t enough to raise the company’s suspicions, either.

“In this instance, we did not receive signals to identify the seller was engaged in selling stolen goods,” Amazon said.

As part of the law, marketplaces are also required to provide a way for people to report suspicious product listings. But the law doesn’t require the marketplaces to do anything with that information.

“Amazon works hard to ensure our store is a safe and trusted place for shoppers,” Amazon says on a page where people can report suspicious listings. “If you believe any product, seller or other activity in our store is suspicious, please report this using one of the below methods.”

“While we are not able to respond directly to each report,” it says, “we appreciate your feedback.” 

— Additional reporting by Ali McCadden  

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Gap shares pop as company’s holiday earnings blow past estimates, Old Navy returns to growth

A general view of an Old Navy store. 

Gap Inc.

Gap’s largest banner Old Navy returned to growth for the first time in more than a year during its holiday quarter as the retailer delivered earnings on Thursday that came in well ahead of Wall Street’s expectations. 

Sales at Old Navy grew 6% to $2.29 billion, and Gap’s overall gross margin surged 5.3 percentage points to 38.9% thanks to fewer markdowns and lower input costs. Analysts had expected a gross margin of 36%, according to StreetAccount. 

Shares of Gap jumped about 5% in extended trading following the report.

Here’s how the retailer did in its fourth fiscal quarter compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

  • Earnings per share: 49 cents vs. 23 cents expected
  • Revenue: $4.3 billion vs. $4.22 billion expected

The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended February 3 was $185 million, or 49 cents per share, compared with a loss of $273 million, or 75 cents per share, a year earlier.

Sales rose slightly to $4.3 billion, up about 1% from $4.24 billion a year earlier. Like other retailers, Gap benefited from a 53rd week during fiscal 2023 and without it, sales would’ve been down during the quarter. The extra week contributed about four percentage points of growth during the fiscal fourth quarter, the company said. 

Comparable sales during the quarter were flat, compared to estimates of down 1.1%, according to StreetAccount. In-store sales were up 4% while online sales decreased 2% and represented 40% of total revenue. 

The retailer decreased inventory by 16% during fiscal year 2023, and with those levels now in check, Gap is working to hold the line on promotions and drive full price selling.

During the quarter, Gap saw higher average selling prices across all of its brands, and it expects to grow its gross margin by at least a half percentage point in fiscal 2024.

“We were the authorities of taking on-trend basics, expressing it in ways that drove cultural conversations. At its best, we were a pop culture brand that did much more than sell clothes and as you know, we all know, we lost our edge. We devolved from a pop culture brand to a clothing retailer, and today we’re moving again,” CEO Richard Dickson told CNBC in an interview.

“We’re getting our vibe back.”

Staging a turnaround

Headed into the holiday season, Gap struck a cautious tone with its outlook as it warned of an “uncertain consumer environment,” and on Thursday, it reiterated those concerns. 

In the current quarter, it expects sales to be roughly flat, compared to estimates of down 0.2%, according to LSEG. For the full year, it expects sales to also be roughly flat, on a 52-week basis, compared to estimates of up 0.5%, according to LSEG. 

“I think we have to look at 2023 where we did see a lot of volatility and uncertainty in the environment. We have inflation, student loan payments, high interest rates, we had dwindling consumer savings. Now fortunately, despite many predictions to the contrary, we didn’t see a recession in the year but our industry was definitely affected,” said Dickson.

“While the apparel market is currently expected to decline in 2024, there are always winners in every market, and we’re seeing the consumer react to newness,” he said. “We’re seeing innovative marketing drive traffic, and it’s inspiring us to believe that we are on the right track with our reinvigoration playbook.”

It’s been a little over six months since Dickson, the former Mattel boss credited with re-igniting the Barbie brand, took over as Gap’s chief executive, and in that time, he’s focused on breathing relevancy back into the retailer’s legacy brands and getting them back to growth. 

Last month, Gap announced it had tapped fashion designer Zac Posen to be its creative director and Old Navy’s chief creative officer. Given its size and contributions to revenue, Gap cannot succeed if Old Navy isn’t winning, and for more than a year, sales have been down even at a time when consumers are hungry for bargains and affordable options. 

Posen, who got his start designing couture gowns and specializes in women’s dresses, is a key hire to Dickson’s executive team. He helps fill in the gaps when it comes to design and apparel, which are areas where Dickson lacks expertise as he’s spent the majority of his career at a toy company. He’ll also play a key role in reigniting cultural relevance across Gap, said Dickson.

“His creative expertise, and his clarity on culture, you know, they’ve consistently evolved American fashion, making him a great fit for the company as we look to energize our culture of creativity and we look to reinvigorate these storied brands,” said Dickson. “His role as chief creative officer at Old Navy is really to harmonize, orchestrate and dial up the storytelling across product and marketing.”

Prior to Posen’s appointment, Dickson hired Eric Chan, the former CFO of the LA Clippers, to be Gap’s chief business and strategy officer. He also hired his former colleague Amy Thompson, Mattel’s former chief people officer, to take on the same role at Gap. 

Banana and Athleta lag

On the back end, Gap has made improvements in growing its gross margin and streamlining its cost structure, but it’s been grappling with a steep decline in sales across its four brands: its eponymous banner, Old Navy, Athleta and Banana Republic. 

Gap and Old Navy have seen some signs of progress but Athleta and Banana Republic have been dragging on the overall business. 

When it comes to Banana, Dickson told CNBC he is “encouraged by the brand’s aesthetic direction” but said it’s going to take time to build back its momentum.

“We gotta get really strong in fixing the fundamentals and strengthening these fundamentals in order to drive more consistent results,” said Dickson. “And that’s what we’re really going to be focused on, our day to day execution, building upon the insights that we’re learning.”

Athleta is still in a state of recovery after numerous leadership shifts and a number of missteps when it came to designing the right type of product in the right styles and colors. It’s also missed the mark in its stores and its marketing, said Dickson.

In August, Athleta named former Alo Yoga President Chris Blakeslee its next CEO, and Dickson said the brand has made strides since he’s come aboard.

“We started the year with a much cleaner palette and we’ve seen early successes in these new arrivals at full price and we’re getting encouraged by the consumer’s reaction,” said Dickson. “I really like where the team is going. We’ve got a new drop strategy, which they’ve been testing, there’s new innovation, color has started to enter the stores and reacted really well.”

Here’s a closer look at each brand’s performance during the fourth quarter:

  • Old Navy: Sales were up 6% to $2.29 billion while comparable sales were up 2%, ahead of estimates of up 1%, according to StreetAccount. 
  • Gap: Sales were down 5% to $1.01 billion, weighed down by selling the brand’s China business, while comparable sales were up 4%, well ahead of estimates of down 1.3%, according to StreetAccount. The brand saw strength in the women’s category. 
  • Banana Republic: Sales were down 2% to $567 million were down 2% while comparable sales were down 4%, better than the 6.7% decline analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount. The company noted that Banana has made progress in “elevating its aesthetic” but re-establishing the brand “will take time and there is work to be done to better execute many of the fundamentals.” 
  • Athleta: Sales were down 4% to $419 million while comparable sales were down a steep 10%. Gap noted that Athleta’s performance improved compared to the prior quarter, but said sales are sluggish as the brand looks to hold the line on pricing and lap a prior period of elevated markdowns. 

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of fashion designer Zac Posen’s name.

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Tour this $24 million mansion in Delray Beach, Florida, where home prices have doubled

The owners of this Florida mansion are asking for $24 million for their almost 11,500 square-foot residence inside one of the most expensive gated communities in Delray Beach, Florida.

The price tag puts the home, known as Villa Ananda, at a price per square foot of almost $2,100, which is well beyond record-breaking territory for a non-oceanfront home in the town.

Aerial view of Villa Ananda and the man-made lake that wraps around the estate rear garden.

Daniel Petroni Photography

“As long as affluent clientele regard Florida as a haven for lifestyle and tax benefits, the ultra luxury real estate market will flourish,” listing broker Senada Adzem told CNBC.

Over the past five years, the Delray Beach market has more than flourished — it has skyrocketed. Since 2018, the average price per square foot of a luxury home — representing the top 10% of sales — in Delray Beach has more than doubled from $416 to almost $840, according to the Elliman Report.

The 102% rise in Delray Beach is even more impressive when you consider it outperformed both the Miami coastal mainland, which saw an 86% increase in luxury price per square foot, and the Manhattan, New York, market where the average price per square foot of a luxury home declined 2%.

Villa Ananda’s living area is flanked by a sleek gray and white kitchen on one side and a wall of wine on the other.

Daniel Petroni Photography

The average luxury home sale in Delray Beach has also seen a dramatic rise, increasing 90% from $2 million in 2018 to $3.8 million in the last quarter of 2023.

“People tend to think of Miami and Palm Beach when the subject turns to high-end South Florida real estate,” Adzem told CNBC. “But Delray Beach is, without question, one of the region’s premier luxury residential markets.”

Many of the town’s high-net-worth residents have been drawn to an exclusive enclave called Stone Creek Ranch. The gated community is home to billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen; National Football League star Khalil Mack; Gerry Smith, CEO of ODP, the parent company of Office Depot; and singer-songwriter Romeo Santos, to name a few.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri purchased a home here back in 2019 for $7.5 million. He sold it in 2022 for $14 million, an almost 87% increase in under three years. Both deals were brokered by Adzem.

16141 Quiet Vista in Stone Creek Ranch was purchased by HP Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri for $7.5M who sold it three years later for a hefty profit.

Daniel Petroni

“I purchased the home because I loved it and the neighborhood. It also turned out to be an extraordinary investment,” Neri told CNBC.

Just last year, the 37-residence community saw its priciest sale to date when a 17,800 square-foot mansion at 9200 Rockybrook traded for $26 million, or about $1,460 per square foot, in a deal that was also brokered by Adzem.

Villa Ananda’s entrance is flanked by mature Italian Cypress trees.

Daniel Petroni Photography

While her latest listing, 9303 Hawk Shadow Lane, isn’t the most expensive home to hit the market here, at almost $2,100 a square foot, it would be the highest price per square foot ever achieved in Stone Creek Ranch, surpassing the previous record by more than 40%.

“Trophy properties have gained momentum in the South Florida market over the past three years — for tax benefits, for safety reasons and because of the pandemic,” Adzem told CNBC.

The real estate agent knows this high-end neighborhood well. Over the past four years, she has sold five properties here, twice each, and brokered more than $136 million in transactions — all of them within just 500 meters of her latest listing.

An aerial view of the Rockybrook Estate in Delray Beach, Florida.

Douglas Elliman

While buyers-turned-sellers, like Neri, have turned hefty profits in a short time, Adzem believes the market is still trending in the right direction. Limited supply helps.

“The high demand for estates within Stone Creek Ranch, with only 37 multimillion-dollar properties available, further underscores this market dynamic,” said Adzem.

Here’s a look inside the 6 bedroom, 10 bathroom Villa Ananda:

Aerial view of 9303 Hawk Shadow Lane in Delray Beach.

Daniel Petroni Photography

The one-story residence sits on 2.5 acres surrounded by a man-made lake.

Missing from the property’s lush green landscape are Florida’s ubiquitous palm trees. There’s not a single one on the estate. Instead, the land is peppered with towering Italian Cypress trees, bougainvillea, rose bushes, pines and vegetation chosen for its resemblance to olive trees.

Adzem tells CNBC that landscape architect Krent Wieland and the owners opted for greenery that would make the residence feel less like a Florida mansion and more like a luxurious villa in the Italian countryside.

The view from Villa Ananda’s loggia includes manicured gardens, a saltwater pool and a 20-person hot tub.

Daniel Petroni Photography

“Every detail of their surroundings was meticulously curated, inspired by the awe-inspiring vistas of southern Italy’s countryside,” said Adzem.

The home’s loggia includes a kitchen, bar, lounge, dining area and fireplace.

Daniel Petroni Photography

Villa Ananda’s primary suite spans about 3,500 square feet with two sleeping areas. This is larger of the suite’s two bedrooms.

Daniel Petroni Photography

According to Adzem, Villa Ananda’s primary suite spans more than 3,500 square feet, with two home offices, two walk-in closets, a pair of baths and a wellness area with an infrared sauna and massage table.

One of the two baths in the primary suite.

Daniel Petroni Photography

One of the primary suite’s two home offices.

Daniel Petroni Photography

Interiors are designed by Inson Dubois Wood with bespoke furniture by Studio Liaigre, Adzem tells CNBC, and while the furnishings are not included in the asking price, they are negotiable.

One of the primary suite’s two walk-in closets.

Daniel Petroni Photography

Custom chandeliers in the living room, formal dining room, baths and even closets are crafted from a pearly-white rock called Selenite, a crystal that’s formed when calcium-rich saltwater evaporates.

The dining area off the kitchen.

Daniel Petroni Photography

There’s dining for twelve off the kitchen, plus a separate formal dining room that can accommodate 10 guests.

The formal dining room.

Daniel Petroni Photography

The kitchen’s waterfall countertops are crafted from a white Calacatta Crema marble, and the wood floors are washed in a soft gray hue that resembles weathered drift wood.

The kitchen.

Daniel Petroni Photography

Outside, there’s a saltwater pool, 20-person hot tub, zen garden, fire features, a fruit tree orchard and rose garden.

A view of the home’s saltwater pool and stone sundeck.

Daniel Petroni Photography

The stone driveway leads to a parking courtyard flanked by air-conditioned garage areas for nine cars.

The home has air-conditioned parking for nine cars.

Daniel Petroni Photography

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Best Buy warns of layoffs as it issues soft full-year guidance

People walk past a Best Buy store in Manhattan, New York City, November 22, 2021.

Andrew Kelly | Reuters

Best Buy surpassed Wall Street’s revenue and earnings expectations for the holiday quarter on Thursday, even as the company navigated through a period of tepid consumer electronics demand.

But the retailer warned of another year of softer sales and said it would lay off workers and cut other costs across the business. CEO Corie Barry offered few specifics, but said the company has to make sure its workforce and stores match customers’ changing shopping habits. Cuts will free up capital to invest back into the business and in newer areas, such as artificial intelligence, she added.

“This is giving us some of that space to be able to reinvest into our future and make sure we feel like we are really well positioned for the industry to start to rebound,” she said on a call with reporters.

For this fiscal year, Best Buy anticipates revenue will range from $41.3 billion to $42.6 billion. That would mark a drop from the most recently ended fiscal year, when full-year revenue totaled $43.45 billion. It said comparable sales will range from flat to a 3% decline.

The retailer plans to close 10 to 15 stores this year after shuttering 24 in the past fiscal year.

One challenge that will affect sales in the year ahead: it is a week shorter. Best Buy said the extra week in the past fiscal year lifted revenue by about $735 million and boosted diluted earnings per share by about 30 cents.

Shares of Best Buy closed more than 1% higher Thursday after briefly touching a 52-week high of $86.11 earlier in the session.

Here’s what the consumer electronics retailer reported for its fiscal fourth quarter of 2024 compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

  • Earnings per share: $2.72, adjusted vs. $2.52 expected
  • Revenue: $14.65 billion vs. $14.56 billion expected

A dip in demand, but a better-than-feared holiday

Best Buy has dealt with slower demand in part due to the strength of its sales during the pandemic. Like home improvement companies, Best Buy saw outsized spending as shoppers were stuck at home. Plus, many items that the retailer sells like laptops, refrigerators and home theater systems tend to be pricier and less frequent purchases.

The retailer has cited other challenges, too: Shoppers have been choosier about making big purchases while dealing with inflation-driven higher prices of food and more. Plus, they’ve returned to splitting their dollars between services and goods after pandemic years of little activity.

Even so, Best Buy put up a holiday quarter that was better than feared. In the three-month period that ended Feb. 3, the company’s net income fell by 7% to $460 million, or $2.12 per share, from $495 million, or $2.23 per share in the year-ago period. Revenue dropped from $14.74 billion a year earlier.

Comparable sales, a metric that includes sales online and at stores open at least 14 months, declined 4.8% during the quarter as shoppers bought fewer appliances, mobile phones, tablets and home theater setups than the year-ago period. Gaming, on the other hand, was a strong sales category in the holiday quarter.

In the U.S., Best Buy’s comparable sales dropped 5.1% and its online sales decreased by 4.8%.

During the quarter, traditional holiday shopping days were Best Buy’s strongest, CFO Matt Bilunas said on the company’s earnings call. Comparable sales were down 5% year over year in November but fell just 2% in December around the gift-giving holidays. January was the weakest month during the quarter with comparable sales down 12%, he said.

Barry said customers “were very deal-focused through the holiday season.” Sales on days known for deep discounts like Black Friday and the week of Cyber Monday matched expectations, but the December sales lull was worse than expected.

Demand was stronger than the company anticipated in the four days before Christmas.

Signs of ‘stabilization’

On the earnings call, Barry said Best Buy expects the coming year to be one “of increasing industry sales stabilization.”

She said the company is “focused on sharpening our customer experiences and industry positioning,” along with driving up its operating income rate. That metric is expected to improve in the coming year.

Strength in services revenue, which includes fees from its annual membership program, in-home installation and repairs, has helped to offset weaker demand for new items. It’s a growth area that the company expects will persist in the coming year.

Some gains in its service business came from a switch to My Best Buy, a three-tiered membership program that ranges in price from free to $179.99 per year depending on the perks and benefits.

The company removed home installations as a perk of that program, which Barry said on a call with reporters resulted in more people choosing to pay for that service.

As of the end of the fiscal year, My Best Buy had 7 million paid members. She said customers who belong to the program spent more at Best Buy than those who don’t.

Barry said Best Buy’s services will help the retailer stand out, especially as customers seek guidance as artificial intelligence becomes part of more devices.

The retailer has been waiting for customers to upgrade and replace their consumer electronics after the pandemic-induced wave. There are some signs that cycle has begun, Barry said on the earnings call. For example, she said, year-over-year comparable sales for laptops turned positive in the fiscal fourth quarter and have remained positive in the first quarter.

She cited other positive indicators, too, including cooling inflation and “green shoots” in the housing market. Sales at Best Buy are not directly correlated to the housing market, which has seen slower turnover, but home purchases do tend to spur appliance and TV purchases, she said.

Best Buy paid dividends of $198 million and spent $70 million on share buybacks during the period. On Thursday, the company said its board of directors had approved a 2% increase in the regular quarterly dividend to 94 cents per share, which will be paid in April.

As of Thursday’s close, Best Buy’s stock is up roughly 3% so far this year. The company has underperformed the approximately 7% gains of the S&P 500 during that period. Best Buy has a market value of about $17.4 billion.

Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO:

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‘Things have not been easy for us’: My sister is a hoarder and procrastinator. She is delaying probate of our parents’ estate. What can I do?

I am in my early 50s, divorced and working full time, and have been raising my only child, a teenage daughter, alone for the past 12 years. My daughter is estranged from her father, who pays child support. We live in Connecticut.

My parents are both deceased as of last year. I moved out of the family home 34 years ago. I have one sibling: a slightly older sister who never moved out of the family home, never went to college, never married, never had a driver’s license, and has no children. I don’t believe she has ever had to pay rent.  

My parents, my sister and I are civil servants with pensions. My sister has done quite well with a high-school degree, and is already eligible to retire. Her job gives her a lot of time off, including holidays and the entire summer. 

When our last parent became ill, she became their caretaker. There was plenty of money between pensions and retirement accounts that she was able to use for home healthcare, medical expenses, household expenses and eventually funeral expenses.

‘She never stopped working’

She never stopped working through all of this, and had power of attorney on all their accounts. She was evasive with me about the amount of money she was overseeing, and I never pushed the issue.  

My parents’ house has been paid off for several years now and both parents’ names are on the deed. They had no will, but named us both as equal beneficiaries on all accounts. Those funds have been distributed.

My sister has been avoiding the issue of probate for several months. She continues to be evasive about the continuing costs associated with the house, but assures me everything is being paid. She has a history of procrastination and has been hoarding for decades. As time goes on, there is noticeably less space to stand inside the house. 

Through probate, the house and our parents’ belongings are due to be split between the two of us. Since I can’t envision my sister ever finding the wherewithal to move out or prepare the house for sale, I would want her to buy out my half of the house so that my daughter and I can live a more secure life.

Finished paying off loans

We rent, and things have not been easy for us. I paid my own way through college and finished paying all my loans off three years ago. I plan to send my daughter to college in a few years and have a 529 plan for her that’s only worth about $15,000. I’ve been sacrificing a lot to put aside retirement money for a long time, but I will probably never feel confident that it’s enough. 

My sister has been busying herself with many activities that she claims are the reason we can’t get this probate process started now. People around me are urging me to be more assertive. I’ve called the appropriate town offices, and I have a certified copy of the deed to the house and some of the applications in hand, but I don’t feel qualified to do this correctly on my own.

I know there are mediators and lawyers that can help, but I don’t know the best way to take control of this situation without spending a ton of money. What do you suggest would be the fairest and fastest way to get this going when one person is passively resisting?

Feeling Stuck

Related: My mom had a trust, so why do we still need probate to settle her estate?

“The good news is that all of the lawyer’s fees will likely be paid out of your parents’ estate, so you will have no upfront legal costs.”


MarketWatch illustration

Dear Stuck,

It’s time to call a lawyer. Delaying this process could cost you dearly.

In Connecticut, you have up to 30 days to file for probate; after that, you could incur fines. “Probate fees are established by statute and are uniform throughout the state,” according to the Connecticut probate-court system. “Interest at the rate of 0.5% per month accrues on all unpaid fees on decedents’ estates beginning 30 days after the date of the invoice, or, if a Connecticut estate tax return has not been filed within the time required, beginning 30 days after the return was due.” You can access an online calculator to estimate probate-court fees here

The good news is that all of the lawyer’s fees will likely be paid out of your parents’ estate, so you will have no upfront legal costs. The executor should have been chosen by the person who wrote the will; if your sister is unable to take on these responsibilities, talk to a trust-and-estate attorney about petitioning the court to remove your sister as executor. It may be that you decide to keep your sister as executor but, after explaining to her the financial implications, you proceed with the help of your attorney.

Your sister has proven herself to be a hard worker, by your own account, but she needs help with this process, and she needs help with the other aspects of her life. Removing her as executor would be time consuming and onerous. Possible reasons for removing an executor include egregious behavior like stealing from or wasting the assets of the estate, or lack of cooperation with the administration of the estate. Removal of an executor can be a complicated and costly process, and one that risks squandering even more money from your parents’ estate.

Personal issues

The legal aspect to your story has, perhaps inevitably, become intertwined with your personal histories. You identify your sister in your letter primarily by what she does not have: a husband, children, a driver’s license, etc. But she has also proven herself to be capable and have many other positive qualities: She was a caregiver, and worked hard as a civil servant to build up a pension to enable her to retire. What she lacks now is support, which both you and an attorney can provide. The nature of that support is legal, practical and also emotional. Providing the latter may be the key to the rest. 

Hoarding disorder is recognized as a mental-health condition by the medical profession. An outsider may see dust and dirt, in addition to cramped and possibly dangerous living conditions, but they don’t always see what lies beneath: fear, pain and potentially other neuropsychiatric disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder. Your sister would, of course, need to be diagnosed by a medical professional. Procrastination is also positively correlated with anxiety. Again, outsiders may mistake this for being uninterested or lazy.

It may be that being frustrated with your sister is a familiar feeling, and one you are willing to endure. But just as your sister should not be allowed to let her very significant issues interfere with probating your parents’ estate, you also should not let your relationship with your sister stop you from taking action. First, you will have the legal process, which will unfold if you seek help from an attorney. After that, you will have the equally important task of encouraging your sister to seek the support of a therapist who may be able to help her move forward.

Your probate stalemate shows that no one problem exists in isolation. 

You can email The Moneyist with any financial and ethical questions at [email protected], and follow Quentin Fottrell on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. 

The Moneyist regrets he cannot reply to questions individually.

Previous columns by Quentin Fottrell:

I have $1.5 million in stocks and bonds. I asked my broker to convert my bonds to cash. He didn’t and my portfolio fell by $100,000. Can I sue?

‘She was very special to me’: My late 98-year-old cousin was targeted by grifters. They stole $800,000. Do I have any recourse?

‘It was a mistake’: My father set up a revocable trust, leaving everything to my stepmother. She’s cutting me out completely. What can I do?

Check out the Moneyist private Facebook group, where we look for answers to life’s thorniest money issues. Post your questions, or weigh in on the latest Moneyist columns.

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Walmart beats Wall Street’s holiday expectations as e-commerce sales soar

Walmart said Tuesday that quarterly revenue rose 6%, as shoppers turned to the big-box retailer throughout the holiday season and the company’s global e-commerce sales grew by double digits. 

The retail giant also announced Tuesday that it would acquire smart TV maker Vizio to accelerate growth of its advertising business. Walmart is acquiring the company for $2.3 billion, or $11.50 per share. 

In a CNBC interview, Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said customers have still shown discretion with purchases. They are putting fewer items in their baskets but shopping more frequently, he said. Electronics, TVs, computers and some other expensive items have been a tougher sell, Rainey added.

Yet, he said even after the holiday rush, Walmart saw continued sales strength.

Here’s what Walmart reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

  • Earnings per share: $1.80 adjusted vs. $1.65 expected
  • Revenue: $173.39 billion vs. $170.71 billion expected

In the three-month period that ended Jan. 31, Walmart’s net income fell to $5.49 billion or $2.03 per share, compared with $6.28 billion, or $2.32 per share, in the year-ago period.

Revenue increased from $164.05 billion in the year-ago period.

Walmart said it expects consolidated net sales to rise 4% to 5% in its fiscal first quarter. It also anticipates adjusted earnings of $1.48 to $1.56 per share on a pre-stock split basis.

For its fiscal 2025, the retailer expects consolidated net sales will climb 3% to 4%. Walmart anticipates adjusted earnings will be $6.70 to $7.12 per share on a pre-stock split basis.

Walmart shares closed 3% higher Tuesday after the company shared its results, outlook and acquisition news. Shares of Walmart are up more than 11% this year, outperforming the S&P 500, which is up about 4% during the same period.

Walmart’s e-commerce strength

Walmart has weathered high inflation better than many other retailers. It has used its value reputation to draw in families across income levels and has leaned into new ways to make money, such as selling ads, expanding its third-party marketplace and offering a subscription-based program called Walmart+.

Comparable sales, an industry metric also known as same-store sales, rose 4% for Walmart U.S. At Sam’s Club, comparable sales increased 1.9%, including fuel. 

Global e-commerce sales jumped 23% year over year, topping $100 billion in total. In the U.S., e-commerce rose 17% as shoppers used curbside pickup and got orders delivered to their homes.

Customer transactions increased 4.3% compared with the year-ago period in the U.S. However, average ticket, or the amount that a customer spent, declined slightly. 

Prices have fallen in some categories. Private brands made by Walmart, which tend to be cheaper, have gained popularity in the U.S. and other parts of the world.

CEO Doug McMillon said on an earnings call Tuesday that prices of general merchandise, a category that includes items such as clothing, are lower than a year ago and even two years ago for some things. For food, prices are lower for some items such as apples, eggs and deli snacks, but higher for other items such as asparagus and blackberries.

Prices of dry grocery items, paper goods and cleaning supplies are up mid-single-digit percentages compared to last year and high teens compared with two years ago.

Walmart also backed away from predictions of deflation. On the company’s third-quarter earnings call in November, McMillon said the company could soon face a deflationary environment, where prices not just stabilize, but also decline. He said those lower prices could help customers pay for more discretionary items.

On Tuesday, however, Rainey told CNBC that deflation seems less likely now. “The possibility overall [of deflation] still remains, but prices are more stable than where they were three months ago,” he said.

Profit push

One reason for Walmart’s earnings growth? The company is selling more than just cereal, socks and shampoo.

Walmart has shifted into more profitable businesses — and that new model is a major part of its future. For instance, the retailer makes money from packing and shipping online orders for sellers that are part of its third-party marketplace. It had a delivery business that drops off purchases from major companies such as Home Depot, and local shops such as bakeries.

It’s also selling more ads, posting gains for the business of about 33% globally and 22% in the U.S. year over year.

Rainey told CNBC that the Vizio acquisition will be “an accelerant” for the “high-margin, fast-growing part of our business.” By using the TV’s operating system, Walmart could not only show ads, but also have better data that tracks how customers engage with the ad and if it leads to purchases.

The company has also boosted efficiency by adding automation to distribution centers that replenish store shelves and fulfillment centers that keep up with online orders.

At an investor day last year, Walmart spoke about how it planned to grow profits faster than sales over the next five years.

On an annual basis, Walmart now expects to grow sales more than 5% and operating income more than 8% on average, Rainey told investors on Tuesday’s earnings call.

Walmart’s e-commerce business is not yet profitable, but Rainey said the company is getting closer. He said the cost of fulfillment has fallen 20% over the past year, as the company drops off more packages on each delivery route and sells related services, such as online ads.

Customers are shopping more on Walmart’s website and app, which helps create those denser delivery routes. Weekly active e-commerce customers grew 17% over the past year, he said.

Expanding stores, boosting dividend

As many other companies have announced cost cuts, Walmart has done the opposite. It announced in late January that it would open or expand more than 150 stores in the U.S. over the next five years. That’s on top of an aggressive plan to upgrade more than 1,400 of its existing Walmart stores to have a more modern look.

Stores that have gotten that fresh design have had higher sales within their four walls and lifted sales in the surrounding market, Rainey told investors on the earnings call. He said the renovated stores make more room for online pickup and delivery orders and have improved Walmart’s reputation with shoppers.

Along with those store investments, Walmart said it would raise store manager wages to an average of $128,000 per year and make managers eligible for a bonus of up to 200% of their base salary.

It also announced a 3-for-1 stock split in late January, as shares hovered near an all-time high.

On Tuesday, Walmart said it would reward shareholders, too. It is raising its dividend by 9% this year, the largest increase in more than a decade.

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My estate is worth millions of dollars. How do I stop my daughters’ husbands from getting their hands on it?

My wife and I live in California, as do three of our four grown daughters. We are revisiting our family trust for the first time in many years, as we’re getting older and have gradually built an estate worth a couple of million dollars. We want to make sure that, in case our daughters get divorced, our hard-earned savings go to them and not their ex-husbands. 

We consulted with two estate attorneys and got different answers. The first said there’s nothing we can do to legally enforce that the inheritance stays separate; the most we could do is put in some wording along the lines of “It is our wish that the money stays separate.” The second attorney said that we can make our children sign a prenup as a condition of their inheritance. 

Furthermore, we have one daughter who has already been married for five years and has three children; another daughter who just got engaged; and two other children, who are single. Our married daughter does not have a prenuptial agreement. How do we protect our gift to her? A retroactive prenup? How should we proceed?

Father of Four Girls

Related: They’re threatening to go to a lawyer’: My in-laws gave us $300,000 and are on the deed to our home. Now they insist we give our niece $125,000.

“Don’t allow this money to become a cudgel with which to control your daughters’ lives.”


MarketWatch illustration

Dear Father,

Money should bring freedom and opportunity, not control and coercion. 

Your intentions tread a fine line between expectations and legality. There is only so much you can do to prevent your daughters from sharing their inheritance with their spouses, assuming they all marry and some of those marriages end in divorce. It is a credit to you that you have amassed a couple of million dollars, but don’t allow this money to become a cudgel with which to pull the purse strings in your daughters’ lives. 

One solution to your problem: You could set up a bloodline trust, a revocable trust that sets out how you should leave your assets to your direct beneficiaries — in this case, your daughters — and which becomes irrevocable upon your death. It can only be used for your daughters and their children, and because it becomes irrevocable upon your death, it cannot be accessed by creditors, should you have any. There are downsides. For example, such a trust could, unless otherwise specified, exclude stepchildren and adopted children.

First, the good news: Inheritance in California is considered separate property. Whether you leave your children real estate or brokerage or savings accounts, that money will remain nonmarital property unless your daughters use it to upgrade their family home or in some other way commingle those assets with their community property. So that pre-empts the need for your married daughter to ask her spouse to sign a postnuptial agreement.

On that subject, however, it’s not wise to use this inheritance to tell your daughters what they should do within their marriages. There should be a clear boundary between your relationship with your adult children and their relationships with their respective partners and spouses. It’s not a good idea to interfere in the latter. Doing so may cause discord in their relationships and also cause unnecessary hurt and tension in your own relationships with your daughters.

“California is one of a few states that strictly adheres to community-property laws, which declare that assets acquired during a marriage [are] community, also known as marital, property,” according to Myers Family Law in Roseville, Calif. “However, even California draws a line when it comes to personal inheritances, including inheritances that were received while married. Inheritances are treated as separate property, belonging to the individual who received the inheritance.”

Legal gymnastics

Requesting in your last will and testament that your daughters receive their share of your estate on the condition that they don’t share any of it with their husbands presents a lot of impractical and legal gymnastics. What they do with their inheritance is their business, unless you put those assets in a trust with strict instructions on how those assets should be used — for your grandchildren’s education, for example — or use the trust to provide an annual income.

There are so many variables beyond your control. What if you die before your wife, and she has different ideas about how your joint estate should be settled? What if your daughter’s husband is asked to sign a prenup, and replies, “No way — who does your father think he is?” The best course of action is to make your daughters aware of how to manage separate assets that are inherited, and how they could be accidentally commingled.

Think about the quality time you have left with your family. You don’t want Thanksgiving dinners to turn into a battle royale or, worse, a situation where your daughters and their partners gradually pull away and reevaluate their relationships with you. You have worked hard for your money, and you are attempting to protect your family fortune. But there are times in life when you can do too much, and hold your family too tight, even if that is not your intention. 

Ask yourself some soul-searching questions before you proceed. Do you really want to force your children to sign a prenup in order to receive their inheritance? Prenups can be challenged and changed at a later date. What is more important: the couple of million dollars you will leave behind, or the relationships you have with your daughters while you are still here? Don’t put a price on your daughters’ love for you — or on their love for their spouses.

Sorry for being preachy, but even Shakespeare wrote a play about estate planning. It was called “King Lear.”

The Moneyist regrets he cannot reply to questions individually.

Previous columns by Quentin Fottrell:

‘I grew up pretty poor’: I got an annual bonus. After I pay off my credit cards, I’ll have $10,000. What should I do with it?

‘I received an insurance-claim check for $22,000’: Why on earth does it take five days for my check to clear?

‘I want to protect my family’: My wealthy father, 49, is marrying his third wife. How do I broach the subject of my inheritance?

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Biogen revenue and profit shrink on Aduhelm costs, slumping sales of multiple sclerosis therapies

A Biogen facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Brian Snyder | Reuters

Biogen on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter revenue and profit that shrank from a year ago, as it recorded charges related to dropping its controversial Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm and as sales slumped in its multiple sclerosis therapies, the company’s biggest drug category.

Biogen booked sales of $2.39 billion for the quarter, down 6% from the same period a year ago. It reported net income of $249.7 million, or $1.71 per share, for the fourth quarter, down from net income of $550.4 million, or $3.79 per share, for the same period a year ago. Adjusting for one-time items, the company reported $2.95 per share.

The drugmaker’s fourth-quarter earnings per share, both unadjusted and adjusted, saw a negative impact of 35 cents associated with previously disclosed costs of pulling Aduhelm, which had a polarizing approval and rollout in the U.S.

Biogen is cutting costs while pinning its hopes on its other Alzheimer’s drugs, including its closely watched treatment Leqembi, and other newly launched products to replace declining revenue from its multiple sclerosis therapies.

Shares of Biogen closed more than 7% lower on Tuesday.

Here’s what Biogen reported for the fourth quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv: 

  • Earnings per share: $2.95 adjusted vs. $3.18 expected
  • Revenue: $2.39 billion vs. $2.47 billion expected

Also on Tuesday, Biogen issued full-year 2024 guidance that calls for adjusted earnings of $15 to $16 per share. Analysts surveyed by LSEG had expected full-year earnings guidance of $15.65 per share.

The drugmaker said it expects 2024 sales to decline by a low to mid-single digit percentage compared with last year. But the company anticipates its pharmaceutical revenue, which includes product revenue and its 50% share of Leqembi sales, to be flat this year compared with 2023.

Multiple sclerosis drug sales slump

Biogen’s fourth-quarter revenue from multiple sclerosis products fell 8% to $1.17 billion as some of the therapies face competition from cheaper generics.

The company’s once-blockbuster drug Tecfidera, which is facing competition from a generic rival, posted revenue that fell 17.8% to $244.3 million in the fourth quarter. Analysts had expected that drug to book sales of $233.1 million, according to FactSet.

Vumerity, an oral medication for relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis, generated $156.4 million in sales. That came in below analysts’ estimates of $174.4 million, FactSet estimates said. 

“We’ve had several years of declining revenue and profit, which is not unusual when you’re dealing with patent expirations,” Biogen CEO Christopher Viehbacher told reporters on a media call Tuesday. He added that one of the key ways Biogen will return to growth is to “reposition the company away from our legacy franchise of multiple sclerosis towards new products.”

Meanwhile, Biogen’s rare disease drugs recorded $471.8 million in sales, up 3% from the same period a year ago. 

Spinraza, a medication used to treat a rare neuromuscular disorder called spinal muscular atrophy, recorded $412.6 million in sales. That came under analysts’ estimate of $443.4 million in revenue, according to FactSet. 

Biogen’s biosimilar drugs booked $188.2 million in sales, up 8% from the year-earlier period. Analysts had expected sales of $196.7 million from those medicines.

Leqembi, other new drugs

The results come amid the rollout of Biogen and Eisai’s Leqembi, which became the first drug found to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease to win approval in the U.S. in July.

Eisai, which reported earnings last week, recorded $7 million in fourth-quarter revenue and $10 million in full-year sales from Leqembi.

Biogen CEO Viehbacher told reporters on the media call Tuesday that there are around 2,000 patients currently on Leqembi. That makes Biogen’s target of 10,000 patients by the end of March 2024 look increasingly difficult to hit, but Viehbacher emphasized that the company is focused more on the long-term reach of Leqembi rather than meeting that benchmark. 

“I think what’s important is we are now making progress,” he told reporters. “The 10,000 isn’t really hard and I think we are now really focusing on commercial plans — how do we get to the next 100,000?”

Notably, the low rate of adoption isn’t due to lack of demand: There are some 8,000 U.S. patients currently waiting to get on treatment, executives from Eisai said on an earnings call last week. 

More CNBC health coverage

The companies are also working toward Food and Drug Administration approval of an injectable version of Leqembi, which showed promising initial results in a clinical trial in October. 

Leqembi is currently administered twice monthly through the veins, a method known as intravenous infusion. The injectable form would be a new and more convenient option for administering the antibody treatment to patients, which could pave the way for higher uptake. 

But investors also have their eyes on other newly launched drugs. 

That includes Skyclarys from Biogen’s acquisition of Reata Pharmaceuticals in July. That drug brought in $56 million in fourth-quarter revenue, according to Biogen.

The FDA cleared Skyclarys last year, making it the first approved treatment for Friedreich ataxia, a rare inherited degenerative disease that can impair walking and coordination in children as young as 5.

On Monday, European Union regulators approved Skyclarys for the treatment of Friedreich ataxia in patients ages 16 and up. 

Biogen has also partnered with Sage Therapeutics on the first pill for postpartum depression, which won FDA approval in August. But the agency declined to clear the drug for major depressive disorder, which is a far larger commercial opportunity. 

Biogen said that pill, called Zurzuvae, generated roughly $2 million in sales for the fourth-quarter.

Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO:

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Former hedge fund star says this is what will trigger the next bear market.

Much of Wall Street expects easing inflation, but an overshoot could dash hopes of a May rate cut, curtailing the S&P 500’s
SPX
waltz with 5,000, warn some.

Read: Arm’s frenzied stock rally continues as AI chase trumps valuation.

What might take this market down eventually? Our call of the day from former hedge-fund manager Russell Clark points to Japan, an island nation whose central bank is one of the last holdouts of loose monetary policy.

Note, Clark bailed on his perma bear RC Global Fund back in 2021 after wrongly betting against stocks for much of a decade. But he’s got a whole theory on why Japan matters so much.

In his substack post, Clark argues that the real bear-market trigger will come when the Bank of Japan ends quantitative easing. For starters, he argues we’re in a “pro-labor world” where a few things should be playing out: higher wages and lower jobless levels and interest rates higher than expected. Lining up with his expectations, real assets started to surge in late 2023 when the Fed started to go dovish, and the yield curve began to steepen.

From that point, not everything has been matching up so easily. He thought higher short-term rates would siphon off money from speculative assets, but then money flowed into cryptos like Tether and the Nasdaq recovered completely from a 2022 rout.

“I have been toying with the idea that semiconductors are a the new oil – and hence have become a strategic asset. This explains the surge in the Nasdaq and the Nikkei to a degree, but does not really explain tether or bitcoin very well,” he said.

So back to Japan and his not so popular explanation for why financial/speculative assets continue to trade so well.

“The Fed had high interest rates all through the 1990s, and dot-com bubble developed anyway. But during that time, the Bank of Japan only finally raised interest rates in 1999 and then the bubble burst,” he said.

He notes that when Japan began to tighten rates in late 2006, “everything started to unwind,” adding that the BOJ’s brief attempts [to] raise rates in 1996 could be blamed for the Asian Financial Crisis.

In Clark’s view, markets seem to have moved more with the Japan’s bank balance sheet than the Fed’s. The BOJ “invented” quantitative easing in the early 2000s, and the subprime crisis started not long after it removed that liquidity from the market in 2006, he notes.

“For really old investors, loose Japanese monetary policy also explained the bubble economy of the 1980s. BOJ Balance Sheet and S&P 500 have decent correlation in my book,” he said, offering the below chart:


Capital Flows and Asset Markets, Russell Clark.

Clark says that also helps explains why higher bond yields haven’t really hurt assets. “As JGB 10 yields have risen, the BOJ has committed to unlimited purchases to keep it below 1%,” he notes.

The two big takeaways here? “BOJ is the only central bank that matters…and that we need to get bearish the U.S. when the BOJ raises interest rates. Given the moves in bond markets and food inflation, this is a matter of time,” said Clark who says in light of his plans for a new fund, “a bear market would be extremely useful for me.” He’s watching the BOJ closely.

The markets

Pre-data, stock futures
ES00,
-0.41%

NQ00,
-0.80%

are down, while Treasury yields
BX:TMUBMUSD10Y

BX:TMUBMUSD02Y
hold steady. Oil
CL.1,
+0.79%

and gold
GC00,
+0.46%

are both higher. The Nikkei 225 index
JP:NIK
tapped 38,000 for the first time since 1990.

Key asset performance

Last

5d

1m

YTD

1y

S&P 500

5,021.84

1.60%

4.98%

5.28%

21.38%

Nasdaq Composite

15,942.55

2.21%

6.48%

6.20%

34.06%

10 year Treasury

4.181

7.83

11.45

30.03

42.81

Gold

2,038.10

-0.17%

-0.75%

-1.63%

9.33%

Oil

77.14

5.96%

6.02%

8.15%

-2.55%

Data: MarketWatch. Treasury yields change expressed in basis points

The buzz

Due at 8:30 a.m., January headline consumer prices are expected to dip to 2.9% for January, down from 3.4% in December and the lowest since March 2021. Monthly inflation is seen at 0.3%.

Biogen
BIIB,
+1.56%

stock is down on disappointing results and a slow launch for its Alzheimer’s treatment. A miss is also hitting Krispy Kreme
DNUT,
+1.99%
,
Coca-Cola
KO,
+0.24%

is up on a revenue rise, with Hasbro
HAS,
+1.38%
,
Molson Coors
TAP,
+3.12%

and Marriott
MAR,
+0.74%

still to come, followed by Airbnb
ABNB,
+4.20%
,
Akamai
AKAM,
-0.13%

and MGM Resorts
MGM,
+0.60%

after the close. Hasbro stock is plunging on an earnings miss.

JetBlue
JBLU,
+2.19%

is surging after billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed a near 10% stake and said his firm is discussing possible board representation.

Tripadvisor stock
TRIP,
+3.04%

is up 10% after the travel-services platform said it was considering a possible sale.

In a first, Russia put Estonia’s prime minister on a “wanted” list. Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate approved aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

Best of the web

Why chocolate lovers will pay more this Valentine’s Day than they have in years

A startup wants to harvest lithium from America’s biggest saltwater lake.

Online gambling transactions hit nearly 15,000 per second during the Super Bowl.

The chart

Deutsche Bank has taken a deep dive into the might of the Magnificent Seven, and why they will continue to matter for investors. One reason? Nearly 40% of the world still doesn’t have internet access as the bank’s chart shows:

Top tickers

These were the top-searched tickers on MarketWatch as of 6 a.m.

Ticker

Security name

TSLA,
-2.81%
Tesla

NVDA,
+0.16%
Nvidia

ARM,
+29.30%
Arm Holdings

PLTR,
+2.75%
Palantir Technologies

NIO,
+2.53%
Nio

AMC,
+4.11%
AMC Entertainment

AAPL,
-0.90%
Apple

AMZN,
-1.21%
Amazon.com

MARA,
+14.19%
Marathon Digital

TSM,
-1.99%
NIO

Random reads

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