Walmart launched a giving campaign based on a round-up program to support local organizations nationwide, it said Monday. The retailer will match customer contributions one to one, up to $1 million for a total $2 million including customer donations. From Friday until Christmas, shoppers can round up purchases and donate the change to a favorite charity while shopping on Walmart.com and the Walmart app, said the retailer. Walmart is also awarding up to 3,000 nonprofits a $1,000 grant when they receive 20 or more Spark Good Round Up donations, up to $3 million. Spark Good Round Up, which launched in the fall, allows customers to choose the approved nonprofit they’d like to donate to and set up recurring round-ups, it said.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy expanded on Amazon’s reported job cuts (see 2211140055) in a memo to employees Thursday. Leaders across the company are studying workforce levels, future investments they want to make and prioritizing “what matters most to customers and the long-term health of our business,” said the executive, saying this year’s review process is more challenging due to the economy. Amazon will cut positions in its device and books businesses and is instituting a voluntary reduction offer for some employees in the People, Experience and Technology (PXT) organization. The company hasn’t set a figure for the number of roles that will be eliminated, he said. A Nov. 14 New York Times article said Amazon was cutting 10,000 jobs, starting last week.

Roku is cutting its workforce by 5%, to slow its operational expense growth rate, it said in a Thursday statement, citing current economic conditions in the industry. The layoffs will affect about 200 U.S. employees, it said. The company estimates it will incur nonrecurring charges of about $28 million-$31 million in connection with the headcount reductions, primarily consisting of severance payments, notice pay, employee benefits contributions and related costs, said a Thursday SEC filing. Most of the restructuring charges will be incurred in Q4, with most layoffs complete by the end of Q1, it said.

Amazon didn’t respond to questions Monday about reported sweeping layoffs, some beginning this week. The approximately 10,000 layoffs would be the largest job cuts in Amazon’s history, said a Monday New York Times article. The report comes just over a month after Amazon said it was hiring 150,000 employees -- full time, seasonal and part time -- to meet expected holiday season fulfillment needs. Then, it was offering up to $3,000 in signing bonuses and touted a nearly $1 billion investment in additional pay over the next year.

The worldwide debut of Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever delivered a $22.6 million box office for Imax over the weekend, $14.2 million in the domestic market, the company said Monday. The film was shot with Imax digital cameras and includes select scenes with an expanded aspect ratio exclusive to Imax, the company said. It will continue to play in the Imax global network through November and into December in select markets. AMC also trumpeted Black Panther weekend receipts, saying over 4.9 million moviegoers went to an AMC or Odeon Cinemas theater globally, with Black Panther setting a domestic box office record for films opening in November at $180 million; it grossed $330 million globally.

Paramount Consumer Products announced an interactive shopping experience with droppLabs for The Noble Collection’s Star Trek Tridimensional Chess Set Thursday. Dropp’s extended reality and e-commerce technology allows consumers to experience and interact with the 3D chess set before buying the physical product, the companies said. Providing Star Trek fans “a compelling interactive digital experience in advance of purchasing and receiving a physical product is the essence of shopatainment and the future of E-commerce," said droppGroup CEO Gurps Rai.

Citing macroeconomic headwinds, Paramount Global is cutting costs and anticipating a Q3 decline in advertising revenue to continue in Q4. In a call with analysts Wednesday as the company announced Q3 financial results, CEO Bob Bakish and Chief Financial Officer Naveen Chopra said cost-cutting steps underway include reorganizing the Showtime networks, focusing marketing resources and spending on segments with high growth potential, and streamlining its ad sales. Bakish said Paramount+ added 4.6 million new subscribers in the quarter, for a total subscriber base of 46 million. He said year-over-year Paramount+ revenue was up 95%, and total sub base for its various direct-to-consumer services is close to 67 million. He said Paramount+ became available in Italy during the quarter, with Germany, Austria and Switzerland following later this year. Bakish said the Sky Showtime joint venture with Comcast launched during the quarter in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, and involving Paramount and NBCUniversal content is a route for going after smaller markets. Chopra said Paramount+ and Pluto TV combined had ad revenue growth of 4%, and would have done better if not for the economy. "Growth will reaccelerate" once the digital ad marketplace rebounds, he said. Chopra said Paramount expects "healthy" streaming subscriber growth in Q4 due to content and new market launches. He said it expects to exceed its full-year direct-to-consumer subscriber growth expectation of 75 million globally. Bakish said it would likely see in Q4 the same 2% overall decline in ad revenues it did in Q3. Revenue for the quarter was $6.92 billion, up 5% year over year. Paramount closed Wednesday at $16.79, down 12.42%.

Imax and Saudi Cinema Co., operating as AMC Cinemas, expanded their partnership with an agreement for six new Imax with Laser systems, adding to the three already operating in Saudi Arabia. The latest deal will grow Imax’s presence in the country to 18 screens in 12 cities, they said. Saudi Arabia had a $240 million box office in 2021.

Seagate is cutting 8% of its workforce -- some 3,000 employees worldwide -- after Q1 FY ’23 revenue plummeted 35% year-on-year to $2.04 billion, the company said Wednesday. Net income shrank to $29 million from $526 million in the year-ago quarter, and operating margin narrowed to 5.3% from 18.8% for the quarter ended Sept. 30. CEO Dave Mosley cited “customer inventory corrections” late in the quarter that reflect “near-term industry demand” for disk drives. The company expects cost cuts to result in $110 million in annualized savings beginning in fiscal Q3. Guidance for Q2 FY ’23 is revenue of $1.85 billion, “plus or minus $150 million.” Shares fell 7.9% Wednesday to close at $53.39. The Bureau of Industry and Security recently sent a proposed charging letter to Seagate Technology alleging it violated U.S. export controls by providing controlled items to a company on the Entity List. Seagate said it received the letter from BIS Aug. 29, accusing the U.S. company of violating the Export Administration Regulations by providing hard disk drives to the blacklisted company and its affiliates between August 2020 and September 2021. Seagate told BIS it didn’t violate U.S. export controls because the hard disks aren’t subject to the EAR, the company said in an SEC filing Wednesday. “Seagate believes it has complied with all relevant export control laws and regulations,” the company said.

Philips is cutting 4,000 jobs globally in a cost-cutting effort, it said Monday, reporting a 5% comparable sales decline to about $4.2 billion for Q3 and a $1.3 billion loss. Orders dropped 6% year on year vs. a 47% uptick in the year-ago quarter, it said. Performance in Q3 was affected by “operational and supply challenges, inflationary pressures, the COVID situation in China and the Russia-Ukraine war,” the company said. In addition to job cuts, the company is addressing facets of a Respironics ventilator recall “to strengthen patient safety and quality management,” plus streamlining operations. “These initial actions are needed to start turning the company around in order to realize Philips’ profitable growth potential and create value for all our stakeholders,” said CEO Roy Jakobs. Cost savings are expected to result in annualized savings of about $296 million. The company expects a mid-single-digit sales decline in Q4 on “prolonged operational and supply challenges, a worsening macro-economic environment and continued uncertainty related to COVID-19 measures in China."