That Jeopardy! champ is no blockhead
After 74 straight wins and a whopper of a $2.5 million consolation prize, Jeopardy! master Ken Jennings finally blew it. The fact that he bowed out on a tax question is ironic since he will obviously have Uncle Sam knocking on his door to claim his piece of the loot. Stumbling to come up with the appropriate answer as to the company that employs 70,000 white collar workers just four months a year -- H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) -- his incorrect response was FedEx (NYSE:FDX).
Federal Express? The overnight delivery specialist takes eight months off every year? Good one, dude! Jennings won't have to worry about living that down. His prize money and uncanny ability to answer more than 90% of the queries correctly through his amazing run will comfort him well. Sensing opportunity knocking with a jackhammer, H&R Block jumped on the bandwagon by offering Jennings free tax returns for life. No word yet on FedEx pilots deciding to take Jennings up on his offer and taking the next eight months off.
Snap, crackle, and pop right into this cabinet seat, Mr. Gutierrez
Realizing that the flakes are more frosted on the other side, Kellogg (NYSE:K) CEO Carlos Gutierrez will be stepping down after he was tapped to be the next Secretary of Commerce.
Gutierrez served the company well. He took his company to the top of the cereal heap by introducing cereal bars, adding dried strawberries to Special K, and acquiring the Keebler family of cookie- and cracker-baking elves in 2001. Gutierrez was a guest on The Motley Fool Radio Show last year, providing a glimpse into how he rose up the corporate ranks as a Cuban immigrant and the pragmatic traits of being a sound leader. Now we may never know why roosters, toucans, and tigers make for compelling dry cereal mascots.
I've seen the ghost of Christmas Future and he's got a killer website
The online migration continues. First, you had Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) reporting a paltry 0.7%uptick in November same-store sales. Granted, luxury retailers had a more robust showing to kick off the potent holiday selling season. Retail researcher ShopperTrak pegged Black Friday's sales growth at a healthy 10.8%.
Nice, but that's got nothing on online retailers. Closeout specialist Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) reported a 31% spike in traffic over the four-day Thanksgiving weekend. The stock has been on a tear lately, gaining 58% since being recommended in our Rule Breakers newsletter. Market bellwether Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) struck gold with bigger ticket items, as for the first time in its dynamic history it had greater sales in consumer electronics than in its flagship book business. Amazon.com has been a recommended pick in our monthly Motley Fool Stock Advisor newsletter.
What's drawing us to kiss the mall goodbye and cherry-pick online deals from the comfort of our own home or office? Is it the convenience of window-shopping with bunny slippers on? Is it the ability to be a click away from competitor pricing? Whatever it is, it's working. We've gone from tired to wired and those virtual shopping carts never felt this light.
Until next week, I remain,
Rick Aristotle Munarriz
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz actually does enjoy the mall-rat insanity, but he too will ultimately fall for the benefits of online shopping. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks today.
