While the coronavirus pandemic colored just about every news story of 2020, Arkansas Business readers found plenty of other reports worth clicking on this year.
Among them: an ex-convict’s alleged scam on an elderly benefactor, the departure of two popular local news anchors and the bankruptcy of a Fayetteville company.
But COVID-19 and its effects on business topped the list of this year’s most-read stories on arkansasbusiness.com.
At No. 1 was a March 17 story about how publicly traded department store chain Dillard’s Inc. of Little Rock responded to the pandemic in its early days.
Dillard’s began by curtailing its hours, even while other chains, including its larger rivals Macy’s and Nordstrom, temporarily closed stores for up to two weeks. Remaining open prompted criticism, including from some in the comments section of the Arkansas Business article, which accused the retailer of putting customers and employees at risk to protect profits.
Dillard’s eventually did close many of its stores amid COVID-19 restrictions imposed by state and local governments, which led to a $162 million first-quarter loss, the worst quarterly loss in its 82-year history.
In our No. 6 most-read story, President Alex Dillard defended the department store against the criticism. “There’s nothing that could be further from the truth,” he said. “We were clearly not maximizing profits, given our loss.”
He said the company was trying to get enough cash to pay its employees and “to meet other mandatory payments” because at that time no one knew if government relief programs were coming.
In the same story, CEO William Dillard II described how Dillard’s went from a “reasonably normal company” at the start of February to “total chaos” by the end of April. By the end of Dillard’s third quarter, sales had recovered as governments lifted restrictions. But Dillard’s remains on track for a fiscal-year loss.
The second most-read story was another COVID-19 piece, a commentary from early in the outbreak by Dr. Carl Abraham, an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University.
The piece, which ran on March 13, explains why COVID-19 is different from other coronaviruses. It came at a critical time in the country’s — and the state’s — response, when the public was beginning to come to terms with the seriousness of the virus.
At No. 3 among most-read stories is Murphy Oil Corp.’s historic announcement on May 6 that it would move its corporate headquarters from El Dorado to Houston. Citing “the extraordinary drop in crude oil prices” prompted by the pandemic, Murphy said it would close its 86,000-SF El Dorado headquarters office, home to 82 employees, along with an office in Canada, and consolidate its headquarters to an existing office in Houston.
The possibility of a headquarters move had long been acknowledged by local officials. But it was the pandemic that finally tipped the scales. In announcing the move, Chairman Claiborne Deming noted that the company had already cut capital expenditures by about 50%, or $700 million, and taken other steps as oil prices collapsed — but it wasn’t enough.
“We realize, reluctantly, that we need to consolidate our offices to capture additional cost savings to remain competitive in this unprecedented industry environment,” he said. “We simply do not have a choice and came to this decision only after exhausting all other cost-saving measures.”
Murphy Oil pledged to continue its El Dorado Promise scholarship program, and its spinoff, publicly traded gasoline retailer Murphy USA Inc., remains headquartered in Union County, where it employs 600.
At No. 4 was an Aug. 17 cover story about Richard F. Toll, an 89-year-old Little Rock man who accused an ex-convict, Kristian D. Nelson of England, of defrauding him of $4.5 million in less than three years.
Toll said in his lawsuit that Nelson “seized the opportunity to take advantage of a generous elderly man whose memory was declining” when Toll lent Nelson millions of dollars for various business endeavors. Nelson, who in 2009 was sentenced to 71 months in federal prison for wire fraud after taking about 20 investors for more than $1 million, denies the allegations.
At No. 5 was the departure of two popular Little Rock TV news anchors. Married couple Ashley Ketz and Aaron Nolan of KARK-TV, Channel 4, announced in July that they would move to Chicago to join “News Nation,” a new project for WGN America, which, like KARK, is owned by Nexstar broadcasting.
At No. 7 was the unexpected death of Scott Landers, 35, managing partner of the Steve Landers automotive dealerships. He died on Jan. 8 of a heart attack while duck hunting in central Arkansas.
Landers worked with his father, Steve Landers, and brother, Steve Landers Jr., in the family auto business before partnering with the Luther Automotive Group of Minneapolis in 2014.
No. 8: Arkansas PBS, the state’s Conway-based public television network, partnering with the Arkansas Department of Education in late March to broadcast “streamlined, curriculum-based programming” for prekindergarten through 8th-grade students who were learning at home when schools were ordered closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
At No. 9 was an April 13 Whispers item about an 18,000-SF house on Moody Road in Fort Smith being listed for $10.9 million. As of last week, the property — owned by Kenny King, former owner of K-Mac Enterprises of Fort Smith, an operator of Taco Bell restaurants — was still listed for that price by Warnock Real Estate in Fort Smith.
The tenth most-read story concerned Pace Industries LLC of Fayetteville filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April. The company, which handles aluminum, zinc and magnesium die casting, estimated its liabilities were between $100 million and $150 million.
CEO Scott Bull blamed the pandemic, which he said weakened demand, disrupted the company’s supply chain and forced the temporary closure of many of its plants. Pace emerged from bankruptcy protection and completed its financial restructuring plan seven weeks later.
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