Business & Markets — October 14, 2026

Kroger cuts 3,000 corporate jobs. The grocery chain will lay off 3,000 corporate employees over three years as it expands artificial intelligence tools to streamline operations.

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Character.ai files for bankruptcy. Disney, which accused the chatbot startup of copyright infringement, bid $20 million for its assets; the once-$1 billion company filed while facing lawsuits over its impact on teens.

Disney's bid would put the assets of a company it had accused of infringing its copyrights under its own control, at a price far below the roughly $1 billion valuation the startup once held, according to Forbes. The filing came as the company contended with litigation over how its chatbots affected teenage users.

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CVS settles DOJ opioid case. CVS Pharmacy and subsidiaries agreed to pay $315 million to resolve Justice Department allegations they unlawfully dispensed medically unnecessary opioid prescriptions.

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Houthi strikes push oil higher. Houthi missiles struck Saudi Aramco's headquarters in retaliation for coalition strikes on Sanaa; oil prices rose as the IEA warned of market constraints.

According to DW, the exchange of attacks saw both the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition target energy infrastructure, and four people were injured in Riyadh by debris from missiles that were intercepted. The involvement of energy facilities on both sides, combined with the International Energy Agency's warning about constrained markets, underscores why the escalation registered in oil prices.

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