Good morning, CFOs. Stitch Fix’s focus on quality over quantity; Unilever’s delayed spinoff; plus Travis Kelce teams up with an activist investor pushing for changes at Six Flags.

Fashion company Stitch Fix is giving priority to quality over quantity when it comes to customers. I spoke with the company’s chief financial officer, David Aufderhaar, about the approach.

The online personal-styling-services company has seen its user count fall in recent years. But Stitch Fix believes it can accelerate sales growth by catering to customers who keep coming back to the site instead of chasing shoppers purely to boost its number of active users.

And it is turning to new artificial-intelligence tools to enhance the shopping experience for customers and help keep them engaged and spending. “We’re being very methodical in our approach to bringing in new clients,” said Aufderhaar.

“This isn’t a vanity metric for us,” he said of user growth. “This is a metric that we want to make sure drives long-term sustainable growth.”

📆 Earnings

• AT&T
• IBM
• Kinder Morgan
• O’Reilly Automotive
• Tesla
• Thermo Fisher Scientific

Unilever is pushing back the planned spinoff of its ice-cream business, home to brands including Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum, blaming the listing delay on the U.S. government shutdown.

The U.K.-based company said Tuesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission was unable to declare the Magnum Ice Cream Company’s registration statement effective, which is needed to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The delay is the latest sign of disruption to business and financial markets stemming from the shutdown, which began at the start of the month. The stalemate in Washington has already left some companies feeling the pinch of stalled federal contracts, while investors have had to make do without scheduled economic data on employment and inflation.

📰 Other headlines

• Cracker Barrel CEO Explains Short-Lived Logo Change
• Novo Nordisk to Shake Up Board After Obesity-Market Challenges
• Interest in American M.B.A. Programs Shrinks, but Schools Across Asia Are Booming
• David Zaslav’s Future Hangs in Balance as Warner Goes Up for Sale
• Crypto Trading Firm FalconX to Buy ETF Manager 21shares
• Is the Flurry of Circular AI Deals a Win-Win—or Sign of a Bubble?
• The Bankruptcy Court Where People Can’t Stop Talking About Piercing Their Ears

📈 Earnings wrapup

• Netflix Revenue and Profit Grow as Ad Business Accelerates
• Mattel Looks Toward Holiday Season After Order Delays Hurt Third-Quarter Sales
• Texas Instruments Warns of Slower Semiconductor Industry Recovery
• Coca-Cola Profit Boosted by Higher Prices
• Adidas Lifts 2025 Views on Rising Sales, Margins
• L’Oreal’s Sales Growth Picked Up, Fueled by Improvement in Key Markets
• RTX Raises Outlook On Growing Demand for Munitions and Missiles
• GM Shares Surge 15% on Raised Guidance
• Lockheed Martin Raises Full-Year Profit Outlook on Strong Demand

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Pentair, the London-based provider of water solutions, said its top finance executive, Robert Fishman, is leaving the company early next year. Nicholas Brazis, currently vice president of corporate development and treasury, will become senior vice president of finance on Nov. 1 and succeed Fishman as executive vice president and chief financial officer on March 1, the company said. Fishman joined Pentair as finance chief in 2020. Brazis joined in 2023.

Flowers Foods, the Thomasville, Ga.-based maker of Wonder bread and Tastykake snacks, has hired D. Anthony Scaglione as its new chief financial officer, effective Jan. 1. Scaglione previously served as finance chief of retailer Total Wine & More, Flowers said. Flowers last month said Steve Kinsey, who joined the company in 1989 and has been finance chief since 2007, plans to retire at the end of 2025.

—Colin Kellaher contributed to today’s Ledger.

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