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TECHNOLOGY B4 | WEATHER B6
After Decline, Sock Makers
Find Their Footing Again
French Carpooling Service
Begins to Pick Up Speed
MANUFACTURING B6
TECHNOLOGY B4
© 2014 Dow Jones & Company. All Rights Reserved.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
**
Friday, December 26, 2014 | B1
Crowds Cheer Sony Film’s Release
By Dan Molinski
in Dallas and
Joe Jackson in New York
ing the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
On Thursday, the theater
joined about 300 other small
cinemas to make history of a different kind, and one also linked
to an assassination, though of
the imaginary kind: Showing the
movie “The Interview.”
The comedy about the assassination of North Korea’s ruler,
Kim Jong Un, was yanked by
Sony Pictures last week after big
theater chains refused to play it.
The decision followed a cyber attack at the Sony Corp. unit,
which the U.S. blamed on North
Korea, and a terrorist threat
against theaters that played the
film.
A loud round of applause
marked the end of the Texas
Theatre’s first showing of the
film. “It was hysterical,” said
Chip Northrup, a 64-year-old investor. “I can’t believe the chain
theaters didn’t pick this up. I
hope these independent theaters
make a fortune.”
One of the film’s stars, Seth
Rogen, greeted patrons in Los
Angeles at an early Christmas
morning screening. In New York,
audiences flocked to see “The Interview,” after weeks of drama
surrounding its fate.
“I wanted to see the first
showing,” said Ken Jacowitz, a
54-year-old librarian, as he held
his movie ticket aloft for TV
cameras and photographers outside Cinema Village, an independent theatre in New York City.
Mr. Jacowitz said he was
there to bolster freedom of
speech rather than display patriotism. “I don’t see it as being
pro-American but pro the spirit
of America,” he said.
Early box office figures
weren’t available, but since it
played in so few theaters, “The
Interview” was likely dwarfed by
much bigger Christmas Day releases such as “Into the Woods”
and “Unbroken.”
The limited release wasn’t the
public’s first chance to see the
$44 million farce. On Wednesday, Sony persuaded Google Inc.
and Microsoft Corp. to offer the
movie for rental or purchase
from their online video stores.
It costs $5.99 to rent the
movie from Google and Microsoft and $14.99 to buy it. Sony
also set up a special website,
seetheinterview.com, to offer the
movie directly.
Sony, Google and Microsoft
all declined to give viewership
figures for “The Interview” on
Please turn to page B4
BY SUZANNE KAPNER
AND SARA GERMANO
Associated Press
The Texas Theatre, a onescreen movie house in Dallas,
has already left its mark on U.S.
history. It was inside the theater,
on Nov. 22, 1963, that Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested follow-
Shoppers’
Late Rush
Gives Hope
To Retail
Patrons waited to see ‘The Interview’ in New York City on Thursday.
At Facebook, Boss Is a Dirty Word
Young Workers Get to Choose Assignments, Focus on Strengths; ‘You Get Zero Credit for Your Title’
American shoppers were on
track to deliver a welcome
Christmas gift to retailers: the
best holiday sales growth in
three years.
Sales gained momentum
throughout December, according
to the International Council of
Shopping Centers, as the countdown to Dec. 25 brought out
more shoppers needing presents
to put under the tree.
“Sales got very strong leading
up to Christmas,” said Gerald
Storch, a former CEO of Toys “R”
Us Inc., who next month will take
the helm of the company that
owns Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord
& Taylor.
A series of encouraging economic indicators has raised optimism about the U.S. economy
that may have helped boost confidence during the critical holiday shopping season.
Among them: The economy
expanded at its fastest pace in 11
years in the third quarter, and
job growth is the strongest since
1999. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s measure of
consumer confidence rose in December to its highest level since
January 2007.
$450M
Ramin Rahimian for The Wall Street Journal
Daily savings for U.S.
consumers from low
gasoline prices
The majority of Facebook’s 8,000 workers are under 30 and even low-level employees at headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., are encouraged to question and criticize managers.
BY REED ALBERGOTTI
For much of corporate America, the millennial generation is a
puzzle. At Facebook Inc., it became the answer.
Born after 1980, millennials
are often thought of as entitled
and clinging to the notion that
work should be fun. They are
also a majority of Facebook’s
8,000 employees. A December
Payscale study found the median
age at Facebook was 28, compared with 30 at Google Inc. and
31 at Apple Inc.
Rather than shrink from the
stereotypes, Facebook embraced
them and crafted management
techniques around them. Managers are told performance reviews should be 80% “focused on
strengths.” Employees aren’t
“entitled,” they have “an intense
sense of ownership.” Employees
are given unusual freedom to
choose, and change, assignments,
even outside their areas of expertise. “Management” is less a
promotion than a parallel career
track.
The regime was influenced by
Marcus Buckingham, a Britishborn researcher and management guru who urges people to
build on their strengths and
work around their weaknesses.
Managers are urged to put employees in roles that cater to
their strengths.
Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg brought
Mr. Buckingham to Facebook in
2008. He administered his
StrengthsFinder 2.0 test to a
group of top executives, including Ms. Sandberg and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg.
Facebook embraced the philosophy, and Marcus Buckingham
Co. now trains all Facebook managers in the technique. Stuart
Crabb, Facebook’s head of learning, previously worked with Mr.
Buckingham’s company.
Even low-level employees are
encouraged to question and criticize managers. Shortly after Don
Faul joined Facebook’s online-opPlease turn to the next page
Meanwhile, gas prices have
fallen to their lowest levels in
five years, which is saving U.S.
consumers more than $450 million a day, according to auto club
AAA.
“You can’t minimize the importance of falling gas prices and
the increase in personal income,”
said Jack Kleinhenz, the chief
economist for the National Retail
Federation, an industry trade
group. The NRF is expecting a
4.1% increase in sales during November and December, the strongest rate since 2011, when sales
rose 4.8%.
A strong holiday will be welcome news to Wal-Mart Stores
Inc., Target Corp. and other retailers that have been contending with declining shopper traffic and formidable competition
from Internet rivals like Amazon.com Inc. Even if sales come
in ahead of expectations, they
may have come at the expense of
profitability because companies
had to rely heavily on promotions to lure consumers to spend.
Retailers enjoyed stronger
holiday sales in 2010 and 2011 as
pent-up demand after the recession led consumers to stronger
holiday spending. But then a
Please turn to the next page
RadioShack’s Dilemma: So Many Stores, So Few Buyers
Composite
Shop Saturation
Lincoln
RadioShack has a dense store
network in Sacramento, Calif.—
23 shops within a 25-mile radius—
even after closing two stores
over the holidays.
Auburn
80
Rocklin
Roseville
Granite Bay
Fo lsom
Lake
Citrus
Heights
Woodland
Folsom El Dorado
Hills
5
Arden-
Sacramento Arcade
Davis
West
Sacramento
Florin
RadioShack locations
Open
Closed
5 miles
Rancho
Cordova
80
Laguna
5
Source: the company
Rancho
Murieta
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
RadioShack Corp. has shut
more stores in the past two
months than the rest of the
year, though it is hard to tell the
difference.
The struggling electronics retailer has managed to eliminate
less than a fifth of the locations
it hopes to shed as part of a
turnaround plan aimed partly at
shrinking its outsize footprint in
many local markets.
After the November closure
of two RadioShack outlets in
Sacramento, Calif., there are still
23 within a 25-mile radius. And
six stores remain within 5 miles
of a Brooklawn, N.J., location
that closed last month.
“I think we are our own competition, especially in this area,”
said Kyle Little, a clerk at a RadioShack in Collingswood, N.J.,
less than 4 miles away from the
closed store.
Having such a concentrated
presence is less profitable for
RadioShack now that shoppers
can choose to buy electronics
through websites, wirelessphone carriers or discount
stores.
What many years ago was a
point of pride for the company—
that more than 90% of Americans then lived within 5 miles of
a RadioShack—has become its
Achilles’ heel. The cost of maintaining and stocking its 4,400
company-owned outlets has
helped push the chain to the
brink of bankruptcy.
RadioShack’s executives have
acknowledged the problem.
Chief Executive Joe Magnacca
said earlier this year that his
new home near the company’s
Fort Worth, Texas, headquarters
probably had too many stores
nearby.
“Within 5 miles of my home,
I have eight RadioShack locations,” Mr. Magnacca told analysts. “So in that example, we
are overstored.”
For nearly a year, RadioShack
has been trying to win consent
from creditors, such as Salus
Capital LLC, to close as many as
1,100 locations as it copes with
plunging sales and deserted
stores.
But, in exchange, its creditors, which a year ago lent the
retailer $250 million to stay in
business, are seeking conces-
Vineyard
Elk
Grove
Wilton
The Wall Street Journal
What was once a point of pride—that more than 90% of Americans lived within 5 miles of a RadioShack—has become its Achilles’ heel.
sions such as debt prepayments
and added fees that the chain
hasn’t been willing to make.
A lot has gone wrong for the
company, which traces its beginnings to 1921 on Boylston Street
in Boston. Online giants have
usurped RadioShack’s business
selling cables, circuit boards and
soldering irons to electronics
tinkerers. A bet on mobile
phones fizzled because the
handsets brought in little profit.
Now, after three years of losses,
dwindling cash and sales at
their lowest level since the
1980s, it has to get smaller to
survive.
P2JW360000-2-B00100-1--------XA
BY DREW FITZGERALD
RadioShack isn’t the only retailer reassessing its brick-andmortar sales network. Sears
Holdings Corp., J.C. Penney Co.
and Staples Inc. also are shrinkPlease turn to the next page
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