Today’s top business headlines: Wendy’s surge pricing, the EU takes on Microsoft, and a potential business closure rocks San Francisco

Wendy’s new surge pricing model: Wendy’s will roll out a new Uber-like, surge-pricing strategy for their menu starting next year, which has plenty of customers wondering, “Where’s the beef?” Menu staples such as burgers can now soar to higher prices during busier times like lunch and dinner, but also drop down to lower prices during slower hours. Wendy’s asserts it will also be using AI technologies to transform their menu, promoting certain items based on the weather outside, for example. Depending on the customer feedback to a planned test, surge pricing could eventually be rolled out to all Wendy’s locations. Full story.



Microsoft deal draws an EU review: Following Microsoft’s announced partnership with Mistral AI, a French startup, the EU came out with a statement saying it will begin to analyze the deal. According to the EU, this investigation is part of a broader examination of deals between large tech companies and generative AI manufacturers. With the EU already looking into Microsoft’s deal with OpenAI from last month, a formal merger investigation could be conducted in the near future. Full story.



Macy’s “bold new chapter” may include shutting its famed Union Square location in San Francisco: Macy’s announced on Tuesday that it will close 150 stores that are underperforming following a dip in their Q4 sales, and media reports suggest its celebrated location in San Francisco’s Union Square may be among them. The struggling retailer says it instead plans to focus its efforts on luxury offerings with the expansion of Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury locations. Macy’s has yet to finalize the full list of locations it plans to close, but around 50 store are planned to close at the end of fiscal 2024, leaving only around 350 Macy’s nationwide. Full story.



Giant grocery merger halted: The FTC is suing to block the planned mega-merger between grocery store rivals Kroger and Albertsons, which was first announced in October 2023. The merger would be the largest in supermarket history and would allow the combined companies to control nearly 13% of the U.S. grocery market, which is why it drew regulatory scrutiny. Kroger and Albertsons say they need greater scale to better compete with retail rivals such as Walmart and Costco. Both companies say they plan to appeal the FTC’s action in court. Full story.



Klarna sees a win for AI: Swedish fintech Klarna announced that its AI assistant can carry out the work of 700 human employees, almost the same amount of headcount the company has laid off since 2022. Klarna’s AI chatbot is currently taking charge of two-thirds of its customer service interactions, the company says, totaling over 2 million conversations. Klarna plans to construct more AI offerings with the success of their chatbot. Full story.