Cranberry Journal — Independent Business, Technology & Culture

We pulled five years of segment figures from CVS's own SEC filings. The stores fill 14 per cent more prescriptions than in 2021 on 10 per cent fewer locations, earn 27 per cent less on each, and took about a third of their revenue from their own parent.

A CVS Pharmacy store in Solomons, Maryland, in May 2024. File photograph.

By Margaret Holloway 28 hours ago7 min read

CVS Health plans to split into two public companies, separating its roughly 9,000 drugstores from the Aetna insurer and the Caremark pharmacy benefit manager, the company said on Wednesday. It expects to complete the split in the first half of 2028.

The retail company will be called CVS Pharmacy. It gets the stores, the mail pharmacy, the MinuteClinic walk-in clinics and a technology unit called Health100. The other company, called CVS Health for now, keeps Aetna, Caremark, CVS Specialty and the Oak Street Health and Signify Health care businesses. Shareholders will own shares in both. None of it is final. The board still has to give final approval, a Form 10 registration statement has to become effective at the Securities and Exchange Commission, and CVS wants confirmation that the split will be tax-free, according to its announcement.

What the release does not give is a set of accounts for CVS Pharmacy. The company's filings come close. Since 2022, CVS has reported a segment called Pharmacy & Consumer Wellness, which holds most of what the new company will own. We pulled five years of its numbers from CVS's annual reports and set them side by side. They show a business that has grown larger and busier while earning less, and one that gets about a third of its revenue from the company it is about to leave.

The white Old Florida State Capitol with a columned portico, red and white striped awnings and a small dome, with palm trees and Florida flags in front and the tall modern Capitol tower behind it under a deep blue sky.

The Numbers

Florida Passed Its Property Tax Cut With 157,000 Votes to Spare. Wyoming and Oklahoma Said No, and Washington Kept Its Millionaires' Tax.

We tracked 13 statewide tax measures through seven sets of results.

By Daniel Okafor 28 hours ago

Three tall black doors set in arches between fluted stone columns at the top of a short flight of steps, at the entrance to the Bank of England in the City of London.

World

The Bank of England Raised Rates to 4 Per Cent, Its First Increase in 1,190 Days. Its Staff Expect Inflation Near 5 Per Cent by the Middle of Next Year.

The rise reverses one of the six cuts the Bank made between August 2024 and December 2025.

By Daniel Okafor 28 hours ago

World

The Bank of Canada Raised Rates Expecting About 2 Per Cent Growth. Two Days Later, the Data Put the Quarter Nearer 1.2 Per Cent.

By Daniel Okafor October 31, 2026

Business

National Express's Owner Agreed to a 46p-a-Share Takeover Worth £308 Million. The Buyer Is Taking On a Company Valued at £2.3 Billion, and Most of That Is Debt.

By Margaret Holloway October 31, 2026

Markets

Japan's Central Bank Says Underlying Inflation Is at Its 2 Per Cent Goal. Its 1.25 Per Cent Rate Is Still 1.35 Points Below Its Forecast.

By Daniel Okafor October 31, 2026

Markets

Lagarde Will Leave the ECB on 7 February, Almost Nine Months Early. Three of the Six Seats on Its Executive Board Will Change Hands by the End of May.

By Margaret Holloway October 30, 2026

World

The Euro Area Grew 0.4 Per Cent Last Quarter, About 1.6 Per Cent at an Annual Rate. France Shrank, and Its Jobless Rate Rose to 8.5 Per Cent.

By Daniel Okafor October 30, 2026

Money

U.S. Wages Rose 3.1 Per Cent in the Year to September, 0.6 Per Cent Less Than Prices. Employers' Health Costs Rose 6.4 Per Cent.

By Margaret Holloway October 30, 2026

Markets

Exxon and Chevron Earned $25.3 Billion Last Quarter. Refining Made Them Almost as Much as Pumping Oil, and Both Pumped Less.

By Daniel Okafor October 30, 2026

Opinion

Margaret Holloway

Explainer

How an Aged Company Can Help a New Business Reach Bank Credit Sooner, and How to Do It the Right Way

Funding specialist Michael Praver says shelf corporations are one path to bank capital for qualified owners.

1 hour ago

Health Care

Dr. Richard Berry's Ohio Clinic Is Adding Two Doctors and Expanding Direct Primary Care to Employers

Maple Health uses a membership-based primary care model designed around access, continuity and predictable costs.

23 hours ago

Small Business

Free AI Isn't What It Used to Be: ISACC Institute's Founder, SerVanes Wilson Sr., on the Real Cost to Solopreneurs

Most U.S. businesses have no employees, which often leaves the owner as the only person checking an AI tool's work.

47 hours ago

Personal Finance

Carilyn Marrero of CM Freedom Finance Earned More for Five Years and Stayed in Debt. Her Holiday Advice Starts With Habits, Not the Paycheck.

Carilyn Marrero spent five years earning more without getting ahead.

November 4, 2026

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An empty operating theatre with a padded surgical table under a ceiling-mounted surgical light, flanked by two wall monitors, equipment carts, an anaesthesia unit and a blue gas cylinder, under white ceiling panels. — An operating theatre at Wings Hospital in Ahmedabad, India, in August 2013. File photograph.

Three podcast microphones on boom arms over a white table, with two pairs of headphones and a coil of cables.

Business

Two Taps & Friends Puts Three Defense Lawyers on the Week's Biggest Cases. In Legal Media, Expertise Is the Product.

By Thomas Gutierrez October 28, 2026

A red, white and navy San Joaquin County official ballot drop box chained outside a building, with bilingual English and Spanish signage and a QR code.

Money

Opponents Have Spent $304 Million to Defeat California's One-Time Billionaire Tax. That Is About 0.3 Per Cent of What Its Backers Say It Would Raise.

By Daniel Okafor October 28, 2026

A Wendy's restaurant with a stone and stucco exterior, red patio umbrellas and a single grey car parked in front, under a clear blue sky.

Business

Trian Has Offered $7.35 a Share to Take Wendy's Private, About $1.4 Billion. That Is Roughly Half the $2.7 Billion of Debt the Bidders Would Keep.

By Daniel Okafor October 28, 2026

The black glass and white travertine Solow Building at 9 West 57th Street in Manhattan, seen from street level against a blue sky, with older towers on either side.

Markets

Ares Capital Will Pay a 30 Per Cent Premium for an Apollo-Managed Lender. The $10.88 Price Is Still 15 Per Cent Below What the Lender Says Its Loans Are Worth.

By Daniel Okafor October 28, 2026

Editor's Choice

A Boeing 737 MAX test aircraft in Boeing's blue and white livery, registration N8701Q, parked on an apron with work stands and stairs beside it, with hangars, hills and a blue sky behind.

Business

Boeing Delivered 161 Airliners Last Quarter and Lost About $4.3 Million on Each. Its 6,300-Jet Backlog Would Take About a Decade to Build at This Year's Pace.

By Daniel Okafor

The order book is not the problem.

Latest News

Everything we have published, newest first

Money

U.S. Wages Rose 3.1 Per Cent in the Year to September, 0.6 Per Cent Less Than Prices. Employers' Health Costs Rose 6.4 Per Cent.

Wages and salaries for U.S. civilian workers rose 3.1 per cent in the 12 months to September, down from 3.5 per cent a year earlier, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday 30 October. After inflation, they fell 0.6 per cent. Private employers' health benefit costs rose 6.4 per cent.

By Margaret Holloway October 30, 2026

A dark sign reading "United States Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue NW" stands on a lawn before the long, pale Frances Perkins Building under a blue sky with white clouds.

Markets

Exxon and Chevron Earned $25.3 Billion Last Quarter. Refining Made Them Almost as Much as Pumping Oil, and Both Pumped Less.

Exxon Mobil earned $15.4 billion and Chevron $9.9 billion in the third quarter, the companies said on Friday 30 October. Chevron's profit was almost three times its year-earlier figure. Refining and fuel sales supplied nearly half the combined total, while both companies produced less oil and gas than a year earlier.

By Daniel Okafor October 30, 2026

A wide view over hillside houses toward a refinery with rows of rust-coloured storage tanks, white spheres and drifting steam, below a ridge of hills and a clear blue sky.

Business

McKesson Is Paying $1.4 Billion for Half of Option Care. The Deal Sets Up a Framework for It to Buy the Rest.

Clayton Dubilier & Rice and McKesson agreed on Monday to take Option Care Health, the largest independent home infusion company in the United States, private for $32.05 a share. McKesson is putting in about $1.4 billion for 49 per cent, and the agreement sets out a framework for it to buy the private equity firm's majority later. Lenders have committed more money to the deal than the two buyers have.

By Margaret Holloway October 7, 2026

A bag of blood with a drip chamber and tubing hanging from a stand in a clinical setting.

DoorDash Will Pay $65 a Share, About $17 Billion, for Instacart. If Antitrust Law Blocks the Deal, DoorDash Owes Instacart $1.25 Billion.

The merger agreement gives regulators up to two years and makes DoorDash pay $1.25 billion if antitrust law stops the deal, almost twice what Instacart would owe for walking away. A $13 billion bridge loan covers most of the cash.

Alison Acosta

Caterpillar's Backlog Hit a Record $78 Billion, Up 96 Per Cent in a Year. Its Dealers Plan to Cut $1.6 Billion of Inventory This Quarter.

Power generation for data centres is filling the order book years ahead. The construction business, which earned more than the year before, is the part management expects to slow.

Daniel Okafor

The cream-coloured frontage of a Cheesecake Factory restaurant with red lettering and white awnings, behind palm trees, hedges and a flowering bougainvillea, below a white apartment building.

Business

The Cheesecake Factory Served 9.5 Per Cent More Guests Last Quarter. At Chipotle, Transactions Rose 0.8 Per Cent.

Comparable sales at The Cheesecake Factory's namesake restaurants rose 15.2 per cent in the third quarter, with traffic up 9.5 per cent, the company said on 27 October. A day later Chipotle reported comparable sales up 2.1 per cent, with transactions up 0.8 per cent. Cheesecake Factory's management says it is too early to tell how lasting its new, younger guests will be.

By Margaret Holloway October 29, 2026

Business

Ford's Electric Unit Lost $1.06 Billion Last Quarter, a Quarter Less Than a Year Ago. Per Vehicle Shipped, the Loss Rose to About $31,000.

Ford's Model e division lost $1.06 billion before interest and taxes in the third quarter, down from $1.41 billion a year earlier, the company said on 28 October. It shipped 34,000 vehicles, 31 per cent fewer. Ford earned $2.7 billion of adjusted operating profit overall and raised the bottom of its full-year forecast.

By Alison Acosta October 29, 2026

A red Ford Mustang Mach-E electric crossover seen from above and the side, driving along a grey road with white lane markings beside a grass verge.

The statement changed one word about the economy, from "solid" to "strong," and dropped its line about the last hike.

The Numbers

The Fed Held Rates at 3.75 to 4 Per Cent, and Two Officials Voted for a Hike. The Next Morning, Core Inflation Came In at 3.1 Per Cent.

By Daniel Okafor October 29, 2026

Business

Weil Gotshal Brought In About $2.1 Billion Last Year. Its Leaders Now Recommend Closing the 95-Year-Old Firm.

The management committee of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, the New York law firm with about 1,200 lawyers, has recommended an orderly wind-down, the firm said on Wednesday. It follows a run of partner departures and merger talks with Willkie Farr & Gallagher that ended without a deal. The firm says it will keep serving clients while the plan goes to its partners.

By Margaret Holloway October 29, 2026

What We’re Following

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A UPS Boeing 767-300F freighter in brown and white livery, with 'Worldwide Services' on its fuselage and the UPS shield on its tail, flying with landing gear down against a clear blue sky.

UPS Raised Its Revenue Forecast by $1.4 Billion and Its Profit Forecast by $100 Million. The Fourth Quarter Now Has to Earn 37 Per Cent of the Year's Profit.

A Lufkin pumpjack with a red counterweight head, yellow beam and teal frame behind a chain-link fence on snow-covered ground, with spruce trees and a clear blue sky behind.

Ovintiv Will Pay About $890 Million for Logan Energy, or $44,500 for Each Barrel a Day It Produces. By Its Own Benchmark, $340 Million of That Is for Wells Not Yet Drilled.

Brazil's Stock Index Fell as Much as 17 Per Cent After Lula Won by 4.4 Million Votes. Measured in Dollars, It Closed About a Fifth Lower.

Verizon Added 406,000 Phone Subscribers in the Third Quarter, Up From 44,000 a Year Ago. It Says It Spent 41 Per Cent Less on Promotions to Win Them.

Business

The "Endless" Cruise Ship Paid $700 a Ton for Fuel Before the Iran War. It Stopped Sailing After Paying $2,000 to $3,000.

Villa Vie Residences suspended its residential cruise ship, the Odyssey, in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, on Tuesday, and told residents to leave within hours. Its executive chairman blamed fuel that cost $700 a ton before the Iran war and $2,000 to $3,000 since. He told CBS News the plan is to file for Chapter 11; no filing has been reported.

By Thomas Gutierrez October 29, 2026