The Wall Street Journal - 19.03.2020

B2| Thursday, March 19, 2020 **** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

INDEX TO BUSINESSES

These indexes cite notable references to most parent companies and businesspeople
in today’s edition. Articles on regional page inserts aren’t cited in these indexes.

A
Airbus..........................A2
Alaska Air Group......A10
Amazon.com..........A4,B2
Anheuser-Busch InBev
...................................A10
Apple...........................B4
Auburn Volkswagen....B4
B
Boeing.........................A1
C
Cboe Global MarketsB11
Challenger, Gray &
Christmas.................A1
Chipotle Mexican Grill
...................................B12
Citigroup.....................A1
CME Group................B11
Coty...........................A10
D
Darden Restaurants
........................... A10,B12
Dave and Buster's....B12
Dell Technologies........B4
Denny's......................B12
Domino's Pizza.........B12
DoorDash...................B12
E-F
Exxon Mobil.........A10,B2
Fannie Mae.................A6

Farmstead...................B1

Fiat Chrysler

Automobiles.............B1

Ford Motor..................B1

Freddie Mac................A6

Fresh Direct................B2

G

General Mills...............B2

General Motors...........B1

H

H-E-B...........................A2

Hill Restaurant Group B3

Hilton Worldwide

Holdings..................A10

Honda Motor...............B1

HP................................B4

Hyundai Motor............B4

I-J

Intel.............................B4

JPMorgan Chase.........A4

K

Koninklijke Ahold

Delhaize....................B2

Kraft-Heinz...............A10

L

Lenovo Group..............B4

Lunds Food Holdings..B2

Lyft.......................B2,B12

M

McDonald's................B12

MGM Resorts

International.............B1

Microsoft.....................B4

MicroStrategy.............B3

N-O

Nelnet..........................B4

Omnicom Group..........B3

P-R

Peapod.........................B2

Pioneer Natural

Resources..................B2

Playboy Enterprises....B3

Ralph's........................A1

S

Saudi Arabian Oil.......B5

Shop 'n Save...............A2

Square.........................B4

Starbucks..................B12

T

Tencent Holdings......B12

Tesla............................B3

Toyota Motor..............B1

U

Uber Technologies

............................. B2,B12

United Airlines............B1

V-W

Village Ford.................B4

Walmart......................B2

Whiting Petroleum.....A4

INDEX TO PEOPLE

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Nationwide spending on
ride-hailing services Uber
TechnologiesInc. andLyftInc.
plunged in the U.S. in the past
two weeks as large numbers of
Americans started working
from home, avoided travel, and
curtailed social gatherings in
an effort to contain the spread
of the new coronavirus.
U.S. consumers spent 21%
less on Uber rides in the seven
days through March 16 com-
pared with the seven days
prior, according to data from
market research-firm Edison
Trends. It based its analysis
partly on credit and debit card
transactions. Spending on Lyft
rides declined 19% over the
same period, the data showed.
In the eight weeks through
March 2, average week-over-
week spending for Uber and
Lyft rides rose 3% and 4%, re-
spectively. Uber and Lyft de-
clined to comment. The first
death in the U.S. linked to the
virus occurred on Feb. 29.
The spending data under-
scores the challenges ahead for
the companies as some of their
most lucrative cities impose
lockdowns. The precipitous de-
cline came even before author-
ities in the San Francisco area
issued sweeping shelter-in-
place mandates, ordering resi-
dents to avoid nonessential
outings until at least April 7.
In California, home to both
Uber and Lyft, people spent
27% less on rides for each of
their services in the seven days
through March 16 compared
with the seven days prior. For
Uber, the largest ride-hailing
service in the world, California
accounts for 9% of bookings. It
is also a principal market for
rival Lyft.
Spending in New York, an-
other large market, also fell
dramatically over the same pe-
riod, according to Edison
Trends. In Washington state,
where the most U.S. fatalities
from the virus have been re-
corded, week-over-week spend-
ing has been in a downward
spiral for at least three weeks,
the data provider said.
The pandemic comes at a
critical time for the money-los-
ing startups that had been try-
ing to shift toward profitable
growth. Last month, Uber Chief
Executive Dara Khosrowshahi
said he expected the company
would reach a measure of prof-
itability in this year’s fourth
quarter, a year earlier than
previously promised. Lyft has
said it would reach its profit-
ability milestone by the end of
next year.
Earlier this week, Uber and
Lyft said they would pause of-
fering shared rides. Lyft said

SpendingonUberandLyft

ridesfellasthevirusspread.

Weeklychangeinspending,

nationwide

Source: Edison Trends

20

–30

–20

–10

0

10

%

Jan. Feb. March

Uber

Lyft

don’t know the depth, and we

don’t know the duration,” Chief

Executive Jeff Harmening said

in an interview.

General Mills said it has ad-

justed its operations to make

fewer varieties of some prod-

ucts so that its plants can run

more efficiently, and it has

changed the way it delivers

goods to retailers to help them

get on shelves faster.

Mr. Harmening said that

over the past week people have

started stocking up on essen-

tially all foods, not just staples.

General Mills said it has kept

up with demand. The company

said it has contingency plans to

keep its factories running if

workers stay home as a result

of school closures and social-

distancing measures.

It also said that it has

dropped some promotional

plans for this spring because

demand is so high already.

Mr. Harmening said that

even if people shift to eating al-

most exclusively at home, de-

mand for General Mills’ prod-

ucts could ebb after an initial

burst of stockpiling. But the

company also said the surge in

consumer interest could bring

new fans for some brands that

it has overhauled in recent

years.

General Mills said demand

started to rise after its fiscal

third quarter ended Feb. 23.

For that quarter, General Mills

reported $4.18 billion in sales,

the same as the prior year and

short of analysts’ estimate of

$4.21 billion, according to Fact-

Set.

The company reported a

profit of $454.1 million, or 74

cents a share, compared with

$446.8 million, or 74 cents a

share, a year ago. After adjust-

ments, General Mills reported

earnings of 77 cents a share,

one cent more than expecta-

tions.

General Mills said sales fell

for products including pack-

aged meals, cereal, snacks and

yogurt in the U.S. But in the

past two weeks, demand for

most of its food, especially dry

and canned goods such as soup,

has climbed.

General Mills shares fared

better than the broader market

on Wednesday, falling 3.2%,

compared with a roughly 5.2%

drop for the S&P 500.

General MillsInc. said its

cereal, soup and other foods

are in high demand as consum-

ers stock up to ride out the cor-

onavirus pandemic.

In the past two weeks,

Americans have hoarded food

as restaurants close their din-

ing rooms and people are told

to stay home from work and

school. General Mills, which

makes Cheerios cereal, Yoplait

yogurt and Progresso soup, on

Wednesday said retailers in

North America and Europe are

purchasing more of its products

and its factories are running at

near capacity to meet the de-

mand.

“It’s evolving so quickly. We

BYANNIEGASPARRO

ANDMICAHMAIDENBERG

General Mills’ Plants Hum

As Households Fill Cupboards

a person familiar with the situ-

ation said.

Amazon said slots are filling

up for delivery through its

Prime Now service, which of-

fers delivery of items including

groceries from Whole Foods,

the natural-foods chain it ac-

quired in 2017.

One Whole Foods store man-

ager in Georgia said that Prime

deliveries were stretched to ca-

pacity, and that the chain’s

suppliers were limiting deliver-

ies the store needs to restock

its shelves. “The stores are

empty,” the manager said.

Amazon said Tuesday that it

aims to hire 100,000 people in

warehouse and delivery roles

to meet the higher demand.

New York-basedFresh Di-

rectLLC said its delivery slots

for the rest of this week are

full in parts of Manhattan and

Brooklyn. Scott Crawford,

Fresh Direct’s chief merchant

officer, said people who are

now eating all their meals at

home have pushed up demand

exponentially. He said the com-

pany is hiring more workers

and adding delivery slots to

meet demand.

“It’s much larger than we

expected, but we adapted to

it,” Mr. Crawford said.

The website ofPeapod LLC,

the delivery business owned by

Ahold DelhaizeNV, crashed

briefly in some parts of the

country Friday as the company

added new servers to handle

the increased demand. Some

customers continue to wait

longer than usual for their or-

ders, the company said.

“We’re putting all of our

people together to do every-

thing we possibly can,” said JJ

Fleeman, Peapod’s president.

Lunds Food HoldingsInc.

said its online revenue has dou-

bled in recent weeks and that it

is redeploying workers from its

catering business, which has all

but stopped, to help fill the

surge in pickup and delivery

orders. The chain, based in St.

Louis Park, Minn., expects

more customers to try pickup

as its delivery slots fill up.

“There is not a lot of elastic-

ity when you have a truck fleet

and you only have so many de-

livery windows,” Chief Execu-

tive Tres Lund said.

Dave Valdes, a 61-year-old

retiree in Houston, said he

thought of placing a grocery

order on Monday at Walmart’s

website. It said his food would

arrive in seven days. He can-

celed the order and plans in-

stead to shop at Dollar General,

which is setting dedicated

hours for older shoppers.

“It’s frustrating,” he said.

—Sarah Nassauer, Annie

Gasparro and Heather

Haddon contributed

to this article.

their websites and apps.

Walmart Inc. and Ama-

zon.comInc. aren’t offering

grocery delivery windows con-

sistently in many markets.

Walmart said it is making

more deliveries than usual

amid a leap in demand. Shop-

pers have experienced outages

of grocery delivery in parts of

Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee,

Pennsylvania, Nevada and

North Carolina, according to

checks of Walmart’s grocery

website.

The retailer has limited the

available delivery window to

two days instead of the usual

seven because Walmart wants

to be sure it has stock to match

what customers have ordered,

Continued from page B1

Grocery

Deliverers

Swamped

With rising demand, General Mills says it has changed the way it delivers goods to retailers to help get items on shelves faster.

GENE J. PUSKAR/ASSOCIATED PRESS

prices persist.

Companies from Exxon

MobilCorp. toPioneer Natu-

ral Resources Co. have

pledged to curb spending, and

some analysts question

whether energy firms will be

able to pay their dividends to

shareholders.

“They’re going to have to

prepare for a longer-term

siege, and unfortunately some

aren’t going to make it,” said

Andy Lebow, senior partner

at Commodity Research

Group.

The current energy prices

are also much too low for

some countries in the Organi-

zation of the Petroleum Ex-

porting Countries, including

Saudi Arabia, to balance their

budgets. Some analysts see a

possible compromise between

the world’s top energy export-

ers in Saudi Arabia and Rus-

sia as the main factor that

could help prices stabilize.

Amy Myers Jaffe, a senior

fellow for energy and the en-

vironment at the Council on

Foreign Relations, said the

fallout from the recent price

decline will be different be-

cause gasoline demand won’t

rise as it typically does when

prices fall.

“We’re not going to have

that normal, natural bottom-

ing that comes from millions

of people making the decision

to take a road trip,” she said.

but will no longer need to

travel to his office.

And with bars and restau-

rants closing in his area, Mr.

Busch estimates he will drive

about half as much as he used

to. “It’s like, ‘OK, where am I

going to go now?’” he said.

The U.S. has become the

world’s largest producer of oil

and gas, so big swings in en-

ergy prices can affect the

economy differently com-

pared with the past. Research

firm Capital Economics proj-

ects the drop in drilling in-

vestment by energy compa-

nies to more than offset any

increase in spending on goods

and services resulting from

cheaper gas in calculating

second-quarter U.S. economic

growth.

The slide in fuel demand is

a major challenge for energy

companies. The rout has

eroded hundreds of billions of

dollars in market value from

producers and added to spec-

ulation about bankruptcies

and mergers should low

Continued from page B1

Cheap Fuel

Finds Little

Demand

A

Arnott, Rob...............A10

B

Boockvar, Peter...........B1
Briggs, John..............A10
Brown, Bruce..............A4

C

Calderon, Traci............A4
Case, Rick....................B4
Chai, Nelson..............B12
Choura, Ryan...............A1
Crane, Peter................A2

E-G

Evermore, Michele......A4
Gibson, Thomas..........A2

Gustafson, Jesse........A4

H

Halff, Antoine.............B5

Harmening, Jeff..........B2

Hyland, Warren.........B11

J

Jaffe, Amy Myers.......B2

Johnson, Jenny...........A4

K

Klein, Aaron................A2

Kohn, Ben....................B3

L-M

Lebow, Andy...............B2

Lonergan, Eric...........A10

Muñoz, José................B4

N

Neitzel, Molly Moon...A4

P-R

Panigirtzoglou, Nikolaos

...................................A10

Parker, Jake................A2

Russell, Warren..........B5

S

Slok, Torsten...............B1

Stevens, Paul Schott.A2

W

Wadhwani, Sushil.....A10

Welch, Matthew.........B4

Woods, Andre.............B4

Wednesday it was also halting

bringing on new drivers to

strengthen earnings opportuni-

ties for existing drivers. The

two ride-hailing companies, as

well as some food-delivery ser-

vices, have discussed setting

up a fund to compensate driv-

ers affected by the virus.

Uber shares have fallen

more than 50% in the past

month due to investor con-

cerns about the impact of the

virus on bookings and a

broader market decline. Lyft’s

stock is down almost 60%.

Both are trading well below

where they made their debut

on the stock market last year.

Some analysts say Uber

might be on track to reach its

profitability target in the

fourth quarter despite the pub-

lic health crisis. The company’s

business in the first two

months of 2020 should limit

the earnings hit this quarter,

they said, with the bulk of the

financial impact likely to be

felt in the second and possibly

third quarter.

RBC Capital Markets analyst

Mark Mahaney estimates

Uber’s 2020 revenue projec-

tions could drop between 14%

and 37%. He expects full-year

earnings before interest, taxes,

depreciation and amortiza-

tion—which Uber points to as a

measure of profitability—to fall

between 7% and 79%.

In recent weeks, lawmakers

and labor groups have pushed

companies to extend broader

employment protections to

workers that the businesses

consider independent

contractors.

On Sunday, Uber said it

would compensate drivers

whose doctors advise self-iso-

lation with up to two weeks of

missed pay. Previously, the

company said it would only

compensate infected drivers or

those who have been quaran-

tined by a public health agency.

BYPREETIKARANA

Ride-Hailing Spirals

Downward at Critical

Time for Uber, Lyft

 Heard on the Street: Ride-

sharing takes a hit...................B3

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