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Apple held its fall event on Wednesday, Sept. 9, and unveiled its first foldable iPhone. By the time the event ended, the CEO of one of the country’s largest wireless carriers had already gone on camera and shared his thoughts on the device.

AT&T CEO John Stankey was in San Francisco on Sept. 9 for the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference, the same day Apple held its event.

Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi pulled him aside and asked what he made of the $1,999 iPhone Duo. Stankey did not hold back.

AT&T CEO on the iPhone Duo: “This is not new“

“The best characterization I can give is, looking at the foldable phones that have been out in the market, this is not new,” Stankey told Yahoo Finance.

He brought up Android foldables as his evidence. Samsung, Google, and others have been selling foldable phones for years. They get good reviews. They have loyal fans. Yet they have never broken through to the average buyer.

“Android users are as passionate about Android as iOS users are about iOS,” Stankey said. “They’re a smaller percentage of the U.S. market, but they are still passionate, and there’s been some really good foldable devices in the Android ecosystem for a couple years. And what we’ve seen is that it tends to function more as a specific niche type application as opposed to [being] broadly accepted.”

More Apple:

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Apple’s iPhone 18 AI bet hides a pricing trap

He acknowledged Apple could prove him wrong, but said he doubted it.

“Will iOS users view it differently, or will there be some unique take that Apple comes up with that changes that penetration dynamic a little bit?” Stankey said. “I suppose it’s possible, but my guess right now is we’re going to kind of see it contained to a portion of the user base that wants that larger device and is maybe willing to invest more money to pick it up and get it.”

Samsung has had the market to itself for years, having launched its first Galaxy Fold in 2019 and having sold foldables every year since. IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo, however, puts foldable phones at only about 2.2% of global smartphone sales in 2026.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 runs $1,899, and Apple wants $1,999 for the Duo, reinforcing that foldables are still a niche product.

What is the Apple iPhone Duo?

Apple unveiled the Duo at its Sept. 9 event. New CEO John Ternus ran the show for the first time, walking through the iPhone 18 Pro, AirPods 5, and Apple Watch Series 12 before saving the Duo for last.

The Duo has a 5.4-inch screen on the outside and a 7.6-inch display when unfolded, according to CNBC. It folds like a book and slips into a pocket.

Open it up, and the screen is large enough to watch a video, work across two apps, or do anything that usually requires a tablet. Apple priced it at $1,999. No iPhone has ever cost that much.

IDC projects foldables will reach 3.1% of global smartphone volume by 2030, even with Apple now in the market.

In revenue, they punch above their weight at about 6.9% of global smartphone sales in 2026, because the price tags are high. But unit volume has been the category’s stubborn weak spot for years.

Apple unveiled the Duo at its Sept. 9 event.Benjamin Fanjoy / Getty Images

Would the AT&T CEO buy the iPhone Duo?

Stankey said he might consider it, under one specific condition. He travels with both an iPhone and an iPad and moves between them throughout the day. If the Duo could replace the iPad, he said he would be interested. If it just adds a third device, he is out.

“I’m going to have to see if it replaces something that I use,” Stankey told Yahoo Finance. “I’m pretty adept at moving back and forth between my iPad and my mobile device right now. And if it becomes something where it says maybe I don’t need to carry the larger iPad around with me, I might be interested.”

A lot of people considering the Duo will probably do the same math. For someone who carries an iPhone and a tablet everywhere, a $1,999 phone that consolidates both devices could be worth it. For everyone else, $1,999 for a phone they already own a smaller version of is a harder sell.

iPhone Duo price and what it means for Apple stock

Stankey runs a wireless carrier. His job with any new iPhone is working out how many customers will buy it and what AT&T has to put together to compete for those sales.

On the Duo, he is betting the buyers will be people who have been waiting for a bigger iPhone, not people who never thought about one until now.

For AT&T, a $1,999 phone matters, even if volume is modest. Higher-priced phones generally mean bigger upgrade financing deals, longer device payment plans, and more opportunities for premium plan attachments. Carriers make money on foldables, even when they do not sell in massive numbers.

Apple now has a foldable phone. Samsung has had one since 2019. Preorder numbers will start coming in shortly, and the first few weeks of sales should tell us whether Stankey read the room correctly or whether Apple will pull off something Samsung could not.

Related: Apple’s new CEO faces a staggering $14 billion iPhone test

The IRS does not ask a 73-year-old with $500,000 in a traditional Individual Retirement Account (IRA) whether they need the money before enforcing a withdrawal this year. 

Under the required minimum distribution (RMD) rules, that retiree must pull out a fixed share of the balance each year, and every dollar counts as ordinary income.

The tax bill on the distribution itself is only the first cost. The withdrawal also affects Social Security taxation and Medicare premiums through calculations that operate on lookback rules, Charles Schwab confirmed.

How the $18,868 forced withdrawal compounds a retiree’s tax bill

The IRS divides the prior year-end IRA balance by a factor from the Uniform Lifetime Table it publishes.

At age 73, the factor is 26.5, so a $500,000 balance produces an $18,868 withdrawal that must clear the account before the calendar year ends.

By age 75, the divisor drops to 24.6, meaning the same balance would require roughly $20,325 as the life expectancy factor shrinks with age.

A joint-filing couple collecting $40,000 in combined Social Security benefits alongside $15,000 in pension income faces the arithmetic directly.

The Social Security Administration calculates “combined income” by adding adjusted gross income, nontaxable interest, and half of the annual benefit amount.

Without the RMD, their combined income is $35,000, the $15,000 pension plus $20,000, which is half of the couple’s Social Security. That figure falls below the $44,000 joint-filer threshold where up to 85% of benefits become taxable.

Add the $18,868 distribution, and combined income jumps to $53,868.

The couple crosses the $44,000 line, and under the IRS’s two-tier formula, roughly $14,400 of their $40,000 in Social Security benefits becomes subject to federal income tax, income that would have remained untaxed without the RMD.

The RMD itself is taxable, and it drags a second income source into taxation alongside it.

Medicare surcharges tied to income from two years before

Medicare applies a surcharge called the income-related monthly adjustment amount, or IRMAA, to Part B and Part D premiums for beneficiaries above certain income levels.

The first IRMAA tier in 2026 starts at $218,000 in modified adjusted gross income for married couples filing jointly and $109,000 for individuals filing alone.

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The standard Part B premium in 2026 is $202.90 per month, but crossing the first IRMAA threshold pushes the total to $284.10, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

IRMAA is difficult to plan around because of a two-year lookback, as 2026 premiums are calculated from the 2024 tax return.

A required minimum distribution from 2024 that pushed income past the threshold will only show up as a surcharge on 2026 Medicare bills.

Medicare surcharges can hit retirees two years later when earlier income, including RMDs, pushes them above IRMAA thresholds.Halfpoint Images / Getty Images

Roth conversions before 73 shrink the balance the IRS can force out

Converting traditional IRA funds to a Roth account during lower-income years between retirement and age 73 shrinks the balance that the IRS can target, according to research from the Schwab Center for Financial Research.

Ed Slott, a CPA and author of “The Retirement Savings Time Bomb Ticks Louder,” told ThinkAdvisor in a 2024 email exchange that financial professionals who overlook the growing tax liability inside tax-deferred accounts are failing their clients.

It would almost be malpractice for any financial or tax advisor to ignore the coming tax storm.

The gap between retirement and the start of mandatory withdrawals is the only window when income remains fully within a retiree’s control.

Once the IRS begins requiring distributions, the income is locked in, and the range of strategies for managing the tax impact narrows each year.

Fidelity highlights one distribution that stays out of adjusted gross income 

A qualified charitable distribution sends IRA funds directly to a qualifying charity and satisfies a required minimum distribution without increasing adjusted gross income.

Under IRS rules, IRA owners must be at least 70½ to use the option, and the 2026 annual limit is $111,000 per individual after an inflation adjustment set by IRS Notice 2025-67.

The distinction from a regular cash donation matters for retirees near an IRMAA threshold or at risk of higher Social Security taxation.

A standard donation after taking a distribution still counts as taxable income on the return, even if the retiree itemizes and claims a charitable deduction.

What retirees approaching their first RMD at 73 still need to weigh

The Schwab Center for Financial Research recommends that retirees review Social Security, pensions, and tax-deferred balances before entering their first RMD year.

Fidelity says that retirees should discuss the qualified charitable distribution with a tax adviser before their first RMD deadline. The firm says retirees should consider raising the option with a tax adviser before their first RMD deadline.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act strengthened the QCD case in 2026. Under the law, itemizers lose the deduction on the first 0.5% of AGI in charitable gifts. A QCD bypasses the floor because it is excluded from AGI, not claimed as an itemized deduction.

The IRS sets the withdrawal, but retirees still control how much other income sits on the return when it arrives, and that window narrows each year.

Related: Rolling your 401k into an IRA could cost you more than you think

A pricing model that took three months to argue into shape can be improved by an assistant over lunch. So can the onboarding sequence, the margin assumptions and the deck. The speed is real, and it is why the fifth and sixth paste happen without anyone asking what is in them.
What is in them, often enough, is the part of the business that has value precisely because nobody outside it has seen it. That has a legal shape, and it is the only kind of intellectual property a company can lose by accident.
Patents and trademarks survive neglect, because they are registered and on file whatever kind of quarter you had. A trade secret has no file. It lasts exactly as long as its three conditions hold, and the third of those is not about the information at all.
What actually makes something a trade secret
Trade secret protection has no registration, no filing fee and no expiry date. It also has no automatic existence. The USPTO sets out three conditions: the information has actual or potential independent economic value because it is not generally known, that value comes from others being unable to discover it by proper means, and the owner takes reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy. All three are required, and the office is explicit that if one of them stops being true, the trade secret stops existing.
The third condition is the one AI touches directly. Reasonable efforts is not a feeling about how careful your team is. In a dispute it becomes a list of things you did: who signed what, which systems held the material, what your policy said, and whether anyone followed it. Pasting your customer acquisition model into a service that retains conversations and reserves training rights is a fact that goes on that list, on the wrong side of it. So is the decision to move the same work to a ChatGPT alternative that retains nothing, which goes on the same list on the other side, with a date on it.
Can you copyright what the model gives back?
The other half of the problem runs in the opposite direction. Material you feed in can lose protection. Material that comes out may never have had any. A landing page written end to end by a model sits on uncertain ground if a competitor copies it word for word, and the same goes for generated illustration, generated code and generated product names.
Image Credit: Addicted2Success
What governs this is the human authorship requirement, which the US Copyright Office has been working through in public since 2023 and now addresses directly on its AI initiative pages. The practical reading is that protection attaches to what a person contributed rather than to what the tool produced on request. For marketing copy that is survivable. It matters a great deal more when the generated thing is the core of what you sell, and which side of that line an asset falls on is worth settling before the asset exists.
Set the boundary at the tool
Writing the AI policy is the easy part. The hard part is being able to say, months later, whether anyone followed it. A rule that lives in a Notion page and depends on ten people remembering it under deadline pressure is a rule you cannot evidence, and evidence is the whole game under condition three.
A tool whose retention behavior you can point to is different. When conversations are encrypted so the provider holds no key, or the terms contractually exclude training and you kept the signed version, you have something to hand a lawyer. When the code is open and independently reviewable, you have something better than a claim. That is the basis to choose on, and the policy comes afterwards, written to describe what the tool already does, so the two documents still agree on the week everyone is shipping.
What happens when the secrets are someone else’s
Your own secrets are the easier half. Client work usually arrives with confidentiality terms that prohibit disclosure to third parties, and an assistant that stores the text and reserves the right to train on it is a third party by any reading. That is not a hypothetical exposure. Enterprise buyers now ask about it directly in security questionnaires, and the question is not whether you have a policy. It is what your tools do.
Which means the answer has to be true in three places at once: in the vendor’s terms, in what your sales team has been telling customers, and in what your team actually did last Tuesday. Those three drift apart quietly and nobody notices until diligence. A tool that retains nothing collapses them into a single answer, because there is nothing left to reconcile. Keep the record of it, and the speed stays available to you without your pricing model ending up in a corpus you do not own.
The post How to incorporate AI without risking your intellectual property appeared first on Addicted 2 Success.

You need braces. What kind should you get? The options are generally metal vs ceramic braces. The New York Times says that metal braces are back ‘in style’ today, but many people also consider ceramic options.
What Is the Difference Between Metal and Ceramic Braces?
In short–aesthetics. While metal braces are shiny and silver with metal brackets, ceramic braces are clear and offer a more discreet look. Both brace types straighten teeth well, and both take the same treatment duration.
Which Braces Cost More: Metal or Ceramic?
The cost of ceramic braces and classic metal braces is generally comparable. However, sometimes one will cost more than the other. Some orthodontists will let the patient choose between the options and charge the same amount either way. Other providers price ceramic braces a bit higher as they are more aesthetic. If cost is important, check with your orthodontist about the price difference and decide from there. Metal braces are typically the budget-friendly option.

Which Type of Braces Is Easier to Maintain?
When looking into metal vs ceramic braces, maintenance is a big consideration. You will likely have the braces for at least a year and possibly several years. It is important that you are able to maintain whichever option you get. Metal braces will not discolor, but ceramic braces can stain. If you drink a lot of coffee or tea, metal braces could be the way to go.
What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Metal Braces?
There are going to be ups and downs to either of the brace options.
Advantages of Metal Braces

Effectiveness
Metal braces get the orthodontic job done.
Affordable
While any braces have a cost to them, metal braces are generally lower in cost than ceramic choices.
Durable.. metal is virtually indestructible and will last for the duration of your treatment plan.

Disadvantages of Metal Braces

Visible
Metal braces are definitely going to show.
Possible Irritating
Metal can sometimes rub the gums and lips, causing irritation.
Hard to clean.. the metal is hard to clean around.

What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Ceramic Braces?
Like metal braces, ceramic options have good parts and bad.
Advantages of Ceramic Braces

Less Noticeable
Ceramic braces show less overall.
Effective
Like metal braces, ceramic options do the orthodontic job well.
Smooth Feeling
These braces don’t rub the lips and gums in irritating ways.

Disadvantages of Ceramic Braces

Possible Higher Cost
Ceramic braces, since they are more aesthetic, are sometimes higher in cost.
Staining
The bands around the clear braces can stain over time.
Fragile
Ceramic braces could crack with hard use.
The ceramic braces are a bit larger.
Harder to Remove.. ceramic braces can crack, making it harder to remove once the treatment plan is complete.

Metal vs. Ceramic Braces: Which Should You Choose?
When you are ready to make the choice between metal braces vs ceramic braces, it all boils down to three things. First, your budget. If the ceramic braces are more costly, can you even afford that expenditure? If not, go with metal.
Second, consider the appearance you prefer. Metal braces are very much in style, so you may not mind that they show, but if you want something that blends in more, go with ceramic.
Third, consider your orthodontic needs with your expert. Ceramic and metal braces generally take care of the same issues, but if one is better than the other for your orthodontic needs, it is important to know that. The experts at Smiles + Grins will go through all of the details of your treatment plan and braces options until you are completely comfortable with every step of the process.
In conclusion 
While metal braces are making a comeback, according to The Washington Post, ceramic braces are also a valid option to consider. Both choices are durable, but metal shows more than ceramic. While ceramic blends in nicely, it can stain over your year (or more) of use.
Keep in mind that metal braces vs ceramic braces isn’t usually a decision on effectiveness. The braces operate in the same fashion. You can get the results you want and need with either. Think instead about the cost, the aesthetics, and other pros and cons.
Whether you have made up your mind or are just starting the orthodontic process, contact the professionals at Smiles + Grins for help.
We can give you a full evaluation and consultation and talk over the options with you. We are happy to go over the advantages and disadvantages of both ceramic and metal braces until you are comfortable with the option you choose.
 
The post Classic Metal Braces vs. Ceramic Braces: Which Is Right for Your Smile? appeared first on Addicted 2 Success.

The upcoming summit between Xi and Trump in DC has an ambitious agenda, but modest hopes. If there is one area of possible negotiation, it’s critical minerals.

Prediction markets have grown considerably amid a ballooning sports betting market. What should consumers know about what’s next for these brands on TV and in court?

A J.P. Morgan analyst recommends Meta’s stock following signs of progress on consumer-focused AI applications.

Oil prices were at their highest levels since late May, while rising wholesale inflation data sent benchmark 10-year yields closer to the key 5% level.

Every portfolio has one holding that is supposed to be the adult in the room.

It is the position you buy so you can stop checking your phone when stocks wobble. It does not pay you anything, and that is fine, because you did not buy it for income. You bought it for sleep.

Precious metals have played that part for generations, and the math behind them is simpler than most people assume.

An ounce of silver pays no dividend and no interest. So its price is really a running argument between two things, how frightened investors are, and how much money they can earn by sitting in cash instead.

When rates fall and fear rises, that argument breaks in silver’s favor. When rates climb and the panic fades, cash starts winning it.

For most of the past two years, the argument was not close. Silver rose more than 130% in 2025, then peaked at $121.67 an ounce on Jan. 29, 2026, according to APMEX. Solar manufacturers wanted it, electric vehicle makers wanted it, and investors who had watched gold run wanted the cheaper version of the same trade.

Then the rate picture flipped, and JPMorgan (JPM) quietly reset what the next two years are supposed to look like.

Why silver falls harder than gold when the mood turns

Silver leads a double life, and that is the whole story of its volatility.

Roughly half of annual demand is industrial. It goes into solar panels, electronics, and vehicles, which means silver takes the hit whenever factories slow down or engineers find a way to use less of it.

More Gold & Silver: 

Gold, silver rally off ugly crash, but investors remain on edge

Citi doubles down on silver after pullback

JPMorgan sees the writing on the wall for silver stock investors

The other half is investment demand, where silver trades as gold’s high-beta cousin. The market is smaller and thinner than gold’s, so the same dollar of buying or selling moves it much further.

That is why the metal amplifies gold in both directions. It is also why silver investors keep getting whipsawed while gold holders sit relatively still.

The measure that captures this is the gold-to-silver ratio, which counts how many ounces of silver it takes to buy one ounce of gold. A falling ratio means silver is outrunning gold. A rising one means the opposite.

That ratio dropped below 45 in late January, its most silver-friendly reading in years, and has since climbed back to roughly 70, according to J.P. Morgan Global Research.

JPMorgan cut its 2027 silver forecast by 26% in a revision published in August.Olivier Le Moal / Getty Images

What JPMorgan’s revised silver price forecast actually says

The bank’s commodities desk published a revision in August that cut its silver outlook across every remaining quarter, and the deepest cuts land in 2027 rather than this year.

Here is the revision in full, and the number that matters is not the one for this year.

The 2026 average forecast fell to $70.60 an ounce from $84.30, a 16% cut, according to J.P. Morgan Global Research. 

The 2027 average forecast fell to $63.90 an ounce from $85.80, a 26% cut, based on the same J.P. Morgan research note. 

The strongest quarter anywhere in the two-year outlook is the fourth quarter of 2027, at $65 an ounce, J.P. Morgan Global Research noted.

Spot silver traded at about $65.87 an ounce late on Sept. 8, according to Kitco. 

Silver is down 7.65% since the start of the year, despite being up roughly 59% from a year ago, Forbes Advisor reported. 

Read those first four bullets together and the problem becomes obvious.

When I lined up the bank’s 2027 quarterly path against silver’s Sept. 8 level, every single quarter came in at or below where the metal already trades. The bank’s most optimistic quarter, 18 months out, is roughly where the metal sat in early September.

That is not a price target in the way investors normally use the phrase. A target usually implies somewhere to go. This one implies the trip is finished.

The bank had already trimmed its near-term view over the summer, when it moved to a $60 to $65 range for the rest of 2026. What changed in August is the back half of the horizon, which had still been carrying a high-$80s handle.

The split with rivals is now wide enough to matter. HSBC went the other direction in May and raised its 2027 silver average to $68 an ounce, leaving the two banks about four dollars apart on the same metal in the same year.

How a Fed rate hike rewrites the case for owning silver

The reason for the cut is the part most silver coverage still has backwards.

For two years the bull case rested on rate cuts arriving. Cheaper money weakens the dollar, lowers the return on cash, and makes a metal that yields nothing look reasonable by comparison.

Related: Pandora opens unexpected box as silver price drops

That assumption is now inverted. The Federal Reserve has held its target range at 3.50% to 3.75% since its July 28 to 29 meeting, and CME FedWatch data showed a 66% probability of a quarter-point increase at the Sept. 16 meeting as of Aug. 31, according to Forbes.

Higher rates “increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets like silver,” said Gregory Shearer, head of base and precious metals strategy at J.P. Morgan.

Gold has a defense here that silver does not. Central banks keep buying gold as a reserve asset regardless of what the Fed does, and that structural bid cushions the drops.

Nobody is stockpiling silver for their national reserves. It has to earn its price from factories and speculators, and both are pulling back at once.

On the factory side, silver-thrifting technology is spreading through solar manufacturing, and Chinese buyers front-loaded imports ahead of a photovoltaic export tax change on April 1. Solar demand for silver could fall about 30% this year, a reduction near 60 million ounces, Shearer said.

What the silver forecast means for your money right now

Here is the part that actually reaches your account statement.

If you bought silver anywhere near the January high, JPMorgan’s own 2027 forecast leaves you down roughly 47% two years later. That is not a drawdown you wait out over a quarter. That is a multi-year hold with no recovery penciled in by the bank itself.

If you bought before 2025, you are still comfortably ahead, and the real question is whether you are holding a winner or refusing to book one.

And if you own no silver and were waiting for a dip, my read of the forecast table is that the bank has removed the reason to hurry. When the most bullish quarter on a two-year sheet matches today’s screen, patience costs you almost nothing.

The wider point reaches past silver. A hiking Fed does not just hurt metals, it pays you to hold cash instead, and Treasury bills competing at these levels are the quiet rival every non-yielding asset now has to beat.

Shearer’s team flagged four things worth watching from here, and the list is shorter than the noise suggests. Watch the direction of gold, the tightness of the physical market, photovoltaic demand out of China and India, and the federal funds rate.

The last one is doing most of the work. Silver’s next chapter gets written at the Fed, not in the mines, and the September meeting is the first page.

Related: Robert Kiyosaki has a bold call on gold and silver

After bankruptcy, ongoing restaurant closures, a sweeping restructuring, and years of financial pressure, a once-iconic seafood chain continues to shutter locations as it works to stabilize its business.

The changes come as the company attempts to rebuild after a turbulent period that pushed the nearly 60-year-old restaurant chain into bankruptcy and led it to close more than 100 locations, raising questions about the future of its business and signature Cheddar Bay Biscuits.

That chain is Red Lobster.

Now, as it works to return to profitability, the company is continuing to evaluate its restaurant footprint, with additional closures possible as it focuses on its strongest markets.

Red Lobster closes dozens of restaurants in 2026

Red Lobster has closed 36 restaurants, with 484 locations still listed as of September 8, 2026, according to Technomic data reported by National Restaurant News. That represents a 7% reduction from the 520 locations the chain had at the end of 2025.

At least 20 of those closures occurred in 2026, including:

Alabama: 515 Quintard Dr. in Oxford closed in September after 35 years

1818 University Dr. NW in Huntsville closed in September.

300 Eastdale Cir. in Montgomery closed in September.

1030 Montgomery Hwy. in Vestavia Hills closed in May after 54 years.

California:72291 CA-111 in Palm Desert closed in September after 14 years.

1525 S Bradley Road in Santa Maria closed in August after 32 years.

Connecticut: 4485 Main St. in Bridgeport closed in July.

Florida: 2583 N Monroe St. in Tallahassee closed in May after 56 years.

Georgia: 1425 13th St. in Columbus closed in August after 55 years.

Illinois: 2696 S Dirksen Pkw. in Springfield closed in August.

Kansas: 9475 Metcalf Ave. in Overland Park closed in May.

2011 SW Wanamaker Rd. in Topeka closed in April.

Louisiana: 6051 Bluebonnet Blvd. in Baton Rouge closed in April.

Michigan: 4109 Wilder Rd. in Bay City closed in March.

Minnesota: 2925 White Bear Ave. in Maplewood closed in August.

Missouri: 4328 S Noland Rd. in Independence closed in May.

New York: The Times Square flagship closed in June after 23 years.

Pennsylvania: 935 Wayne Ave. in Chambersburg closed in May.

1502 Scranton Carbondale Hwy. in Dickson City closed in April after 25 years.

Texas: 8401 Gateway Blvd. W in El Paso closed in March.

The shutdowns illustrate how the chain is continuing to adjust its physical footprint even after emerging from bankruptcy.

Red Lobster continues restaurant closures in 2026.Craig T Fruchtman / Getty Images

Why Red Lobster is continuing to close locations nationwide

The closures come as Red Lobster continues recovering from a turbulent period in its history.

Red Lobster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2024 after accumulating nearly $300 million in debt and shutting down approximately 130 restaurants. Court filings cited rising operating costs, declining consumer traffic, and significant financial losses.

The company’s $20 Ultimate Endless Shrimp promotion was also identified as a major financial problem. According to court-related filings and subsequent reporting, the promotion contributed to an $11 million quarterly loss.

As part of the restructuring, Red Lobster closed about 130 restaurants before emerging from bankruptcy under new ownership by RL Investor Holdings LLC later that year.

After the company’s exit from bankruptcy, Adamolekun was appointed CEO in August 2024 and tasked with stabilizing the business and modernizing its operations following a period of leadership turnover.

Since then, Red Lobster has focused on reducing expenses, streamlining operations, renegotiating vendor agreements, and reviewing its restaurant portfolio. Additional workforce reductions and restaurant closures have remained part of the company’s restructuring efforts.

The chain’s financial troubles have also continued to generate legal fallout.

In May 2026, Red Lobster’s creditors sued former CEO Paul Kenny and Thai Union Group, the company’s former investor and seafood supplier.

According to the complaint, the defendants pushed the $20 Ultimate Endless Shrimp promotion despite knowing it could cause significant financial harm, while Thai Union benefited from increased shrimp purchases.

The complaint also claims that Kenny and Thai Union removed members of Red Lobster’s management team, blocked competing suppliers, and forced the chain to purchase larger quantities of shrimp at inflated prices.

Employees warned executives that the low price would not be profitable, but management allegedly continued expanding the promotion despite those concerns.

Red Lobster could close more restaurants in 2026

Red Lobster continues to evaluate its real estate portfolio as part of its broader turnaround strategy. That review could result in additional closures, particularly at underperforming locations, as the company focuses on strengthening its remaining restaurant base.

One important chapter in the chain’s financial history came in 2014, when private equity firm Golden Gate Capital acquired Red Lobster from Darden Restaurants (DRI) for $2.1 billion. To help finance the transaction, the company sold much of the real estate in a sale-leaseback deal valued at around $1.5 billion.

The transaction provided short-term liquidity but left Red Lobster with significant lease obligations. Those obligations became increasingly difficult to manage as the company’s traffic and financial performance weakened.

Annual lease obligations reached about $190.5 million by 2023, roughly 10% of its revenue, with more than $64 million tied to underperforming restaurants, according to the bankruptcy filing.

Red Lobster ended 2024 with approximately 528 locations. However, some leases bundle multiple restaurants, limiting the company’s flexibility to close weaker stores without affecting stronger ones.

Gad Allon, a professor of Operations, Information, and Decisions at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, has argued that the sale-leaseback illustrates the risks of prioritizing short-term financial gains over long-term reinvestment.

“Much of the liquidity from the sale-leaseback went toward paying dividends to private equity investors rather than addressing systemic operational issues or adapting the menu and brand to shifting market demands,” Allon wrote on Substack. “This misallocation of resources underscores the risks of prioritizing short-term gains over strategic reinvestment.”

Here’s some of my previous coverage of restaurant closures:

Mexican restaurant chain closes all locations in major market

Steakhouse chain closes final location in major market

Iconic Mexican restaurant shuts down after 43 years

Although Red Lobster has made progress since emerging from bankruptcy, its turnaround remains a work in progress. 

According to Technomic data, systemwide sales declined 6.2% in 2025, underscoring the ongoing challenges facing the seafood chain as it attempts to rebuild momentum.

Related: Iconic seafood chain brings back controversial deal amid closures