The US travel ban applies to grandma; Blue Apron IPO disappoints

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The State Department has defined what family is exempt from President Trump's travel ban: "A parent (including parent-in-law), spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, sibling, whether whole or half" and step relationships, the New York Times reports. But banned are extended family, like aunts, cousins, in-laws — and grandparents and grandchildren. It's unclear, the Times says, "how the administration arrived at the new definitions." The ban impacts Syria, Libya, Iran, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia.

Blue Apron fizzled in its debut as a public company, per Bloomberg, ending the day where it began: $10, its deeply-discounted striking price. Adding insult to injury, APRN was trading down after hours. The meal-delivery company has about a million customers but losses have widened even as revenues increased over the past two years, and it has warned investors it may never make a profit. #BlueApronIPO

Walgreens and Rite-Aid scrapped their planned merger. Instead, Walgreens will buy 2,186 stores and three distribution centers from Rite Aid for $5.175 billion. The two chains discussed a deal for two years but faced strong regulatory pushback. For customers, the biggest change will probably only be that your local Rite Aid might become your local Walgreens #WalgreensRiteAid 

?The US decided not to ban laptops on international flights. The Department of Homeland Security considered a sweeping rule and imposed a limited one in March on flights from 10 overseas airports. DHS will, however, require enhanced security measures for 180 airlines in 105 countries — affecting some 325,000 passengers arriving daily in the US. #USLaptopBan

Staples, whose proposed purchase of Office Depot was derailed by regulators, is going private. Sycamore Partners will acquire the office supply chain for $6.9 billion "in one of the largest retail deals of the year," per Bloomberg. Once free of Wall Street's constant scrutiny, Staples, whose sales and gross profits have fallen for the last four years, will get more room to execute on a turnaround plan. But the real problem is competition from Amazon — which isn't going anywhere. #StaplesSycamore

An ex-employee is suing VC firm Binary Capital in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal involving (now resigned) cofounding partner Justin Caldbeck. Former Binary principal Ann Lai says Caldbeck and the Silicon Valley firm harassed and defamed her to keep her from divulging information about the company. Lai also says she left Binary because of its “sexist and sexual environment.” #BinaryScandal

What's your take? Join the conversations on today's stories: #StaplesSycamore | #FedStressTests | #USLaptopBan | #TrumpTravelBan | #BinaryScandal | #BlueApronIPO | #PharmaBoyTrial

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