• From Freightwaves:
"UPS Inc. said it has rolled out a product that will provide select customers with a “fast” next-day delivery option within a metropolitan service area.
The service, called Hyperlocal, was launched earlier this month, CEO Carol B. Tomé said last week on an analyst call. Tomé called it a fast next-day delivery option that would help UPS capture “profitable B2B and B2C volume.” She provided no further detail on the call, and the company declined to offer additional information afterward.
"The new service resembles a reconstituted version of a UPS project launched about five years ago, according to a person familiar with the matter. Back then, the idea was to pick up local volumes from a retailer’s fulfillment center in the wee hours of the morning, transport the goods in time for UPS’ morning presort process and then deliver them to consignees the same day.
"UPS rival FedEx Corp. had a similar service, the person said. The two biggest users at the time were multi-lines retailer Target Corp. and electronics retailer Best Buy Co. The service had limited appeal because there had to be sufficient volumes moving within a specific geography to make it consistently work, the person said. UPS effectively let the program fade by 2019, in part because FedEx had captured Best Buy’s business, according to the person.
• From the Wall Street Journal:
"WeWork is planning to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, according to people familiar with the matter, in what would mark a stunning reversal for the flexible-office-space venture that was once valued at $47 billion … WeWork missed interest payments owed to its bondholders on Oct. 2, kicking off a 30-day grace period in which it needs to make the payments. Failing to do so would be considered an event of default. On Tuesday, the company said it has struck an agreement with the bondholders to allow it another seven days to negotiate with the stakeholders before a default is triggered."
The Journal points out that "WeWork was once a darling of the venture-capital world, but its performance has fallen short of the lofty expectations investors once ascribed to it. The company’s co-founder Adam Neumann was ousted in 2019 after investors raised concerns about his unorthodox management style and related-party transactions with the company. WeWork went public in 2021 through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company after earlier plans for an initial public offering were scrapped."
My question is, what took so long?
BTW, if you never seen "WeCrashed," the Apple TV series about WeWork and its founders, it is totally worth a look. It will make any conventional businessperson nuts, but it is a heightened-reality snapshot of crazy times in one particular kind of boardroom.
