Walgreens, from pharmacy behemoth to distressed retailer

 Walgreens Boots Alliance is being taken private by Sycamore Partners for $10 billion, bringing to a close the pharmacy chain operator's nearly century-long association with the public markets.

The following is a timeline of key events in the history of the storied company, which was briefly part of the bluechip Dow Jones Industrial Average index but has seen its shares languish in recent years:

1901

Charles R. Walgreen Sr. purchases the Chicago drugstore where he worked as a pharmacist to start the Walgreens chain.

1909

The second Walgreens store opens.

1926

The 100th store opens in Chicago.

1927

Walgreens' stock goes public.

1950

Walgreens begins to build self-service instead of clerk-service stores in the Midwest.

1975

Walgreens reaches $1 billion in sales.

1984

Walgreens opens its 1,000th store in Chicago.

1999

Walgreens launches an online pharmacy.

2009

Walgreens opens its first store in Alaska, marking its presence in all 50 states of the United States.

2014

Walgreens completes its merger with health and beauty retailer Alliance Boots to form Walgreens Boots Alliance.

2016

Walgreens enters partnerships with pharmacy benefit managers such as Express Scripts and OptumRx and insurer UnitedHealthcare.

2017

Walgreens scraps deal to acquire Rite Aid after failing to win antitrust approval, but buys nearly half of the smaller rival's U.S. stores.

2018

Walgreens joins the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing industrial conglomerate General Electric.

Walgreens reports weak retail sales, has its biggest intraday percentage loss in more than two years, raising doubts about its Rite Aid move.

2019

Walgreens explores a deal to go private and holds preliminary discussions with some of the world's largest private equity firms, according to media reports.

2022

Walgreens begins strategic review of its U.K.-based Boots business.

Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd and U.S. buyout firm Apollo Global Management reportedly plan a joint bid for Boots. Subsequently, Walgreens scraps the plan to sell the business, saying no third party was able to make an adequate offer due to the turmoil in global financial markets.

2023

In October, Walgreens appoints Tim Wentworth as its CEO, pinning hopes on the healthcare industry veteran to boost the company's lagging stock price and reverse a recent drop in profits.

The company also targets $1 billion in cost cutting measures for 2024 as part of its ongoing efforts, which include shutting unprofitable stores.

2024

Walgreens nearly halves its dividend payout in January to conserve cash amid low consumer spending and intense competition, wiping out more than $2 billion of its market capitalization.

In February, it loses its spot on the Dow to Amazon. Eight months later, Walgreens says it would shut 1,200 stores over the next three years.

WSJ and other media outlets including Reuters report in December that Walgreens is in talks to sell itself to private equity firm Sycamore Partners.

2025

Walgreens strikes a deal to be taken private by Sycamore for $10 billion in March.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/walgreens-pharmacy-behemoth-distressed-retailer-115455721.html

Vessels Linked To Cable Sabotage Return To China Or Vanish From Tracking Systems

 by Andrew Thornebrooke via The Epoch Times,

Cargo vessels accused of sabotaging undersea fiber-optic cables are sheltering in China or else have disappeared from tracking services in recent weeks.

Bulk carrier Yi Peng 3, a Chinese-owned and operated cargo ship, is alleged to have cut two vital communications cables in the Baltic Sea last November by dragging its anchor in a zigzag pattern for more than 100 miles.

The Danish navy guarded the vessel for a time while an international team negotiated with China’s communist leadership to board it as part of an investigation into potential sabotage.

The Yi Peng 3 suddenly left the area of its own accord after an international team interrogated some of the crew, however, and was not stopped due to a lack of jurisdiction in international waters.

International leadership is still struggling to piece together the vessel’s intent.

The vessel and its crew have returned to China, however, and are safely anchored in the port city of Qinzhou, according to the ship’s automatic identification system (AIS).

Similarly, the Hong Kong-flagged Newnew Polar Bear is now moored in Zhoushan, China, after allegedly coordinating with a Russian container ship to sabotage a natural gas pipeline and two nearby fiber-optic cables connecting Finland and Estonia in October 2023.

Estonia requested that Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities allow it to seek evidence from the vessel and its crew at the time, but was rebuffed.

Nearly a year later, the CCP claimed to have conducted its own investigation, saying that the vessel had accidentally caused the damage during a large storm.

Estonia and Finland continue to conduct a criminal inquiry into the matter.

Other China-operated vessels that are suspected of sabotage have disappeared from the public eye altogether.

The Shunxin 39, also known as the Xing Shun 39, a cargo ship owned by a Hong Kong-based company, is believed to have damaged one of the 14 cables linking Taiwan to mainland Asia in 2023.

Taiwan’s Coast Guard sent a ship to investigate after receiving a report of connection problems from a local telecommunications firm, saying that an undersea cable had been damaged off the island’s northern coast.

The Coast Guard exchanged radio communications with the ship but was unable to board because of bad weather.

Authorities subsequently ordered the cargo vessel to head to Taiwan’s Keelung port for investigation, but the ship continued toward China.

Complicating matters was the fact that the vessel appeared to carry two or possibly three AIS devices, variously identifying it as a China-flagged ship, a Tanzania-flagged ship, and a Cameroon-flagged ship.

GPS data obtained by Taiwanese authorities showed the ship crisscrossing over multiple subsea cables, possibly while dragging its anchor to cut the cables.

Shortly thereafter, in January of this year, the Shunxin 39 turned off its identification systems while sailing toward China, and has since remained dark or else is now sailing under a different identity.

Several days after the Shunxin 39 went dark, the Mongolia-flagged but Chinese-operated Bao Shun cargo ship began moving in a zigzag pattern through the waters near Taiwan before being driven off by the coast guard while turning its AIS on and off.

The Bao Shun returned a month later, crossing into Taiwan’s restricted waters on Jan. 30 and crossing over the area of several undersea cables.

However, despite making more than 50 port calls in Taiwan over the past three years the vessel has only logged a single stop at another port when it went to Hong Kong briefly after being driven off by Taiwanese authorities in January.

The Bao Shun is currently in the Taiwan Strait according to AIS data.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/vessels-linked-cable-sabotage-return-china-or-vanish-tracking-systems

Bristol Myers: receives EU approval for liver cancer

 Bristol Myers Squibb receives European Commission approval for Opdivo® (nivolumab) and Yervoy® (ipilimumab) for the first-line treatment of adult patients with unresectable or advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

Approval based on the results of the phase 3 CheckMate -9DW clinical trial demonstrating a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival with Opdivo plus Yervoy compared to the investigator's choice of lenvatinib or sorafenib.

' ''The European Commission's approval of Opdivo plus Yervoy adds to the growing body of evidence demonstrating the value of dual immunotherapy and represents an important new treatment option with the potential to prolong survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma,'' said Dana Walker, M.D., M.S.C.E., Vice President, Global Opdivo Program Lead, Bristol Myers Squibb.

''This approval marks a crucial milestone in our commitment to improving outcomes for liver cancer patients. We look forward to bringing this new first-line treatment option to patients in the European Union'.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/BRISTOL-MYERS-SQUIBB-COMP-11877/news/Bristol-Myers-receives-EU-approval-for-liver-cancer-49270799/

Trump reveals he is pushing to negotiate nuclear deal with Iran

 President Trump revealed Friday he is pushing to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran.

The commander-in-chief said he fired off a letter to the Islamic Republic’s leadership on Thursday in the hopes Tehran will want to hash it out.

“I said I hope you’re going to negotiate, because it’s going to be a lot better for Iran,” Trump told Fox Business Network in an interview.

President Trump he hopes Iran will negotiate because he’s “not looking to hurt Iran.”REUTERS

“I think they want to get that letter. The other alternative is we have to do something, because you can’t let another nuclear weapon.”

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The letter was reportedly addressed to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“There are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal,” Trump added. “I would prefer to make a deal, because I’m not looking to hurt Iran. They’re great people.”

It comes after Trump said last month he would like to make a deal with Iran that prevents it from developing a nuclear weapon.

Trump, meanwhile, pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal — a multinational agreement to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons — back in 2018 during his first stint in the White House.

Trump reportedly addressed the letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER'S WEBSITE/AFP via Getty Images

It comes just weeks after Trump denied he was working behind the scenes with Israel – a longtime foe of Tehran – to “blow Iran into smithereens.”

“I want Iran to be a great and successful Country, but one that cannot have a Nuclear Weapon,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post.

“Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens, ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED.”

Still, Trump has vowed to obliterate the Middle Eastern country if they make any attempt to assassinate him during his current term.

“I’ve left instructions. If they do it, they get obliterated. There won’t be anything left, and they shouldn’t be able to do it,” Trump said last month.

The threat came after reports emerged that Iran has allegedly sought to assassinate Trump and various officials who served in his first administration as payback for the Trump-ordered assassination of Gen. Qasem Soleimani in 2020.

The country’s leaders also allegedly hacked people associated with Trump in an attempt to undermine his 2024 candidacy.

https://nypost.com/2025/03/07/us-news/trump-says-hes-pushing-to-negotiate-nuclear-deal-with-iran/