The world’s biggest retailer is taking applications for its 6th annual Open Call, a two-day event by Walmart Inc. in which entrepreneurs pitch products made, sourced or grown in the U.S. to the company’s buyers.
Prospective suppliers have through April 30 to apply for a chance to meet with Walmart buyers at the Open Call summit, to be held June 18-19 in Bentonville, Arkansas.
During the 2018 Walmart Open Call, nearly 600 meetings were held with product pitches including toys, apparel, natural health and beauty aids, and food.
“Walmart’s Open Call program had an amazingly positive impact for us,” said Ben Rendo with Mighty Good Solutions in Knoxville. “With Walmart’s help, we turned our small business from something that my wife and I were running out of our living room into a real company. Within a year, our first item was in 4,600 locations.
In 2013, Walmart announced its commitment to help boost job creation and U.S. manufacturing through buying an additional $250 billion in products supporting American jobs by 2023. Last year, Walmart spent $3.5 billion with Tennessee suppliers, supporting 54,078 local jobs.
Lyft hikes IPO target to $70-$72 a share
Lyft is raising the price target for its initial public offering in a sign of the excitement surrounding the stock market debut of a ride-hailing service.
With the revision disclosed Wednesday, Lyft is now seeking $70 to $72 per share, up from its previous goal of $62 to $68.
The adjustment comes after Lyft’s management bankers spent a week meeting with investors to explain why buying its stock makes sense even though the company has an uninterrupted history of losses.
The higher price target implies investors are clamoring to buy Lyft’s stock. The proof will come Thursday when a final IPO price is determined, setting the stage for the stock to begin trading Friday morning.
Class action granted in CoreCivic lawsuit
Shareholders suing private prison operator CoreCivic won class action status Tuesday for their lawsuit claiming the company inflated stock prices by misrepresenting the quality and value of its services.
CoreCivic’s public statements to shareholders have said the Nashville-based company provides a high quality service at a lower cost than government-run facilities. The securities fraud suit claims CoreCivic executives knew those statements were false.
According to the suit, the company formerly called Corrections Corporation of America “ran unsafe, low quality prisons that caused multiple deaths and did not save money.”
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, CoreCivic, which operates the Silverdale Workhouse in Hamilton County, has said the shareholder lawsuit is “entirely without merit.”