Doubling up: Royal Dutch Shell took advantage of rising oil prices in Q4 last year, doubling its profits from the same time period a year before. After oil prices plunged in 2016—to less than $30 per barrel—Shell was among the major oil companies forced to cut costs. Those prior cost cuts, along with a surge in oil prices, has helped the firm rebound. Oil has traded above $60 a barrel for much of January, and brent crude was trading near $70 a barrel yesterday.
Out of work: Sears Holdings Corp. laid off 220 employees at its corporate offices on Wednesday as part of ongoing efforts to restructure its business operations and strengthen its financial position, the Chicago Tribune reports. The cuts affected various business units and roles across the organization. The layoffs, effective immediately follow rounds of cuts in March and June. The struggling department store chain said it made “significant progress” in its restructuring last year, but suffered from weak holiday sales. Read more.
Flaming out: It took Elon Musk just four days to sell $10 million worth of flamethrowers, generating an unusual source of revenue for his Boring Co. tunneling business, Bloomberg reports. Musk announced on Wednesday that his startup has sold out of the 20,000 Boring Co.-branded flamethrowers he started peddling over the weekend at $500 each. The money will help bankroll the boring machines, lawyers and lobbyists Musk is relying on to execute his plan to build tunnels under parts of Los Angeles and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. It’s still unclear if the devices are actually flamethrowers or souped-up blowtorches. Read more.
