• Kroger-owned Harris Teeter announced that it has launched its proprietary Harris Teeter Delivery service in Maryland, initially to customers in the Baltimore and Frederick metro areas. Plans are to expand the offering to additional zip codes in the near future.
“We are thrilled to expand Harris Teeter’s delivery options to give our loyal Maryland customers a delivery experience that is as convenient and special as shopping in one of our stores,” said Bill Rhyne, senior director of operations support for Harris Teeter, in a prepared statement. “It’s just as exciting to introduce our high-quality fresh produce, prepared foods and more to new geographic locations not previously served by a Harris Teeter store.”
• From Business Insider:
"Jeff Bezos unexpectedly bought a single Amazon share in late May, marking his first known purchase of the company's stock in more than two decades. He may have been channeling Elon Musk and trolling Wall Street.
"Amazon's billionaire founder and executive chair reported the May 25 trade to the Securities and Exchange Commission at 4.20 p.m. ET the next day. He also disclosed a gift of more than 69,000 shares to a nonprofit in the same filing.
"The bizarre single-share purchase and the numbers implied by the reporting time and the stock donation — 4:20 and 69 — have fueled speculation that Bezos may have been mimicking his rival Elon Musk.
"The Tesla and SpaceX chief has made plenty of playful references to the number '42' — a reference to Weed Day on April 20, and the answer to the 'ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything' in 'A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' — and '69' in recent years. For example, Musk initially offered to acquire Twitter for $42 billion last year before sealing the deal at $44 billion.
"Bezos paid $114.77 for his Amazon share. Subtract the shares he donated, and his stake stood at 990,476,371 shares, worth $122 billion as of Friday's close. Amazon's stock price has climbed to $123.43 since then, meaning Bezos has made about $9 on the unusual investment.
"Amazon stock has surged 47% this year, boosting the market capitalization of the ecommerce and cloud-services giant to $1.3 trillion. Bezos' roughly 990 million shares represent a nearly 10% stake in the company and account for most of his $147 billion net worth, as estimated by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index."
