TECHNOLOGY
LastPass completes spinoff from GoTo
Password management firm LastPass has completed its spinoff from its parent company GoTo, a separation that was first announced in 2021. However, GoTo (formerly known as LogMeIn) and LastPass will continue to share the same private equity owners, Francisco Partners and Elliott Management. While the spinoff was in the works, LastPass was hit by a malware attack that stole information from millions of customers and triggered an ongoing class action lawsuit. The company employs more than 800 people globally, and considers itself a “remote-first, hybrid-office” company, with only 1,100 square feet leased for its headquarters at 125 High St. in Boston. A spokeswoman for LastPass said the firm does not require employees to perform their jobs from a centralized office, and instead allows them to work in one of the firm’s office hubs or in coworking spaces. That policy applies to Karim Toubba, the CEO of LastPass for the past two years, and other LastPass executives; Toubba’s LinkedIn page says he remains based in California, although the spokeswoman said that just last week, Toubba and other members of the executive team were in Boston for multiple days. —JON CHESTO
HEALTH CARE
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Mass. hospitals can keep temporary beds open
Overburdened Massachusetts hospitals are allowed through next April to keep using temporary beds to bolster their capacity to care for patients, state public health officials said in recently extended guidance as the Healey administration also braces for the unpredictable fallout from the Steward Health Care crisis. Hospitals can continue to deploy temporary adult medical and surgical inpatient beds, once their licensed beds are filled, in “alternative” care spaces until April 1, 2025, according to the Department of Health guidance. The pandemic-era policy will not be extended beyond that date, but officials in the coming months will develop new guidance tied to licensing beds and processes for hospitals to use surge beds “under certain conditions,” the DPH said in an April 23 memo to hospital executives, which was highlighted by the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association earlier this week. DPH allows temporary beds to be used “during periods of high demand when hospitals require additional beds for adult medical/surgical inpatients and adult medical/surgical patients awaiting admission, and/or to mitigate the spread of infectious diseases (including respiratory illness),” according to the memo. A DPH spokesperson said 541 temporary beds have been approved as of April 27, and 275 medical/surgical beds are occupied. — STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
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INTERNATIONAL
Mexican remittances fall, weakening outlook
Mexicans abroad sent home less money than expected in March in another blow to that nation’s cooling economy. Total remittances fell to $5.02 billion, down 3 percent from a year earlier, the central bank said Thursday. The median forecast of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was $5.3 billion. In local currency terms, the fall was even more pronounced, since the peso has been the world’s top-performing major currency over the last 12 months, strengthening 6.2 percent. Growing remittances from the buoyant US economy have been one of the biggest drivers of Mexico’s economic growth in recent years, along with “near-shoring”, whereby companies move far flung factories closer to the United States. However, the economy expanded just 0.2 percent during the first quarter as high real interest rates damp demand. “The significant appreciation of the Mexican peso is eroding the pull of remittances on consumption,” wrote Alberto Ramos, director for Latin America at Goldman Sachs & Co. After adjusting for the peso’s appreciation, remittances in local currency terms fell 11.5 percent over the year, he estimates. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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RETAIL
Pringles maker says people buying less food, eating more leftovers
Americans have been buying less food at supermarkets amid persistent inflation, and the head of the maker of Pringles chips and Cheez-It snacks thinks he’s figured out a major factor behind the change. Kellanova chief executive Steve Cahillane isn’t seeing “volume destruction,” in which Americans would actually eat significantly less, he said in a call with investors Thursday. Rather, they’re incorporating new behaviors, such as “making sure leftovers are really used.” He called that a “consumer behavior that will remain.” American households have plenty to work with: In 2022, Americans had a surplus of 42.8 million tons of food in their kitchens, or nearly half the total amount of surplus food in the United States, and by far more than farms, manufacturers, restaurants, or retailers, according to data from nonprofit ReFed. And the US Department of Agriculture estimates that a family of four wastes about $1,500 a year on trashed food. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
FITNESS
Peloton CEO quits as company struggles to grow
Peloton Interactive Inc. shares fell to a record low after chief executive Barry McCarthy announced plans to step down and the struggling fitness company embarked on a major restructuring that will reduce its global workforce by 15 percent. The board will conduct a search to name a replacement, Peloton said in a statement Thursday. Board chair Karen Boone and director Chris Bruzzo will serve as interim co-CEOs. The shares fell as much as 16 percent to $2.71 in New York on Thursday, marking the worst intraday drop since February. Even before the decline, the stock was down 47 percent this year. McCarthy — a veteran of Spotify Technology SA and Netflix Inc. — took over from cofounder John Foley in early 2022 and set about overhauling the company. That’s included thousands of previous layoffs, management shake-ups, and outsourcing business functions. He’s also tried to make Peloton more of a services company — with its mobile app at the heart of the business — rather than just a seller of expensive bikes and treadmills. The executive also forged new partnerships, including one this week with Hyatt Hotels Corp. to bring Peloton bikes to the hotel chain in an attempt to boost sales. But McCarthy acknowledged in recent months that the company continued to struggle with growing “at scale” and warned in February that revenue may not start increasing again until the fourth quarter. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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