Macy’s on Monday said an employee responsible for managing accounting for small package deliveries concealed up to $154 million in expenses over the course of nearly three years.

The person who allegedly hid the money is no longer with the company, the department store operator said Monday morning, ahead of its third-quarter earnings report. The company, whose statement on the matter didn’t say when the person left the job, declined to comment beyond the announcement.

The news comes at a difficult time for Macy’s, which is indelibly tied to the holiday season through the film “Miracle on 34th Street” and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, while investors look for clues about how consumers are shopping for the holidays. Macy’s sales have slumped as the company has underperformed for the past decade.

The company was due to deliver results before U.S. stock markets opened Tuesday morning, but it has delayed releasing its full results until Dec. 11 to allow an independent investigation to wrap up.

Macy’s said it discovered the issue while preparing its financial report for the quarter ending Nov. 2. It did release preliminary findings for the period, saying overall net sales declined 2.4% year-over-year.

The company said the employee, who was responsible for the accounting of small package delivery expenses, ‘intentionally made erroneous accounting accrual entries’ to hide about $132 million to $154 million from the fourth quarter of 2021 through the most recently completed quarter. That is small relative to the $4.36 billion in overall delivery expenses Macy’s recorded during that period. However, it is greater than the $105 million in net profit the company recorded for its full fiscal year that ended Feb. 3.

The independent investigation hasn’t identified any other Macy’s employee, the company said.

‘At Macy’s, Inc., we promote a culture of ethical conduct. While we work diligently to complete the investigation as soon as practicable and ensure this matter is handled appropriately, our colleagues across the company are focused on serving our customers and executing our strategy for a successful holiday season,” CEO Tony Spring said in a statement Monday morning.

Macy’s is attempting a turnaround amid broader shifts in the retail industry, particularly as shoppers buy more online. In February, the retail chain said it would close 150 stores nationwide in a reorganization initiative to focus on luxury sales.

The move will leave 350 Macy’s locations, as well as Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury beauty and skin care stores, which the company said have been “outperformers” within the Macy’s portfolio.

A federal judge said Monday he may hold an evidentiary hearing next month to help determine whether to approve the sale of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ media company to satirical publication The Onion.

Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston clarified the sale, which comes after a Nov. 13 auction, remains in limbo until such a hearing, when interested parties can make their case and he can decide which of Jones’ assets, if any, can be sold. A date was not immediately set.

He also declined to immediately rule on Jones’ request for a temporary restraining order to disqualify the Onion’s bid, and said ‘whatever was status quo pre-auction remains status quo’ — essentially allowing Jones to remain broadcasting from his flagship platform, Infowars, for the time being.

‘Firing folks a week before Thanksgiving is not what we do, but it sounds like that’s not what occurred,’ Lopez said. ‘Folks are continuing to work.’

Another bidder, First United American Companies, a limited liability company affiliated with Jones’ dietary supplements business, had challenged the results of the auction after it said it bid twice as much cash as the Onion.

At stake is the ownership of Infowars’ intellectual property, including its website — the prized asset in the auction in which proceeds are largely meant to help satisfy defamation verdicts awarded to several families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

The families won lawsuits against Jones in 2022 after he repeatedly called the massacre that left 20 children and six staff members dead in Newtown, Connecticut, a ‘hoax’ on his Infowars broadcast. He filed for bankruptcy in his home state of Texas in the wake of the nearly $1.5 billion in legal judgments.

Jones’ company, Free Speech Systems, was set to go to the Onion, which has often mocked him in its faux news coverage, after bankruptcy trustee Christopher Murray announced the winning bid.

But First United American Companies quickly contested the results, saying in an emergency filing attempting to block the sale that it had offered $3.5 million in cash — compared to the Onion’s $1.75 million.

The auction process approved by Lopez did not require Murray to automatically select the bidder that submitted the highest amount, and the trustee could reject the bid that was ‘contrary to the best interests’ of the estate creditors.

Lopez said Monday that the focus of an evidentiary hearing will be on Murray’s business judgment in regard to how the auction was held. He said he may decide to approve the sale, order another auction or hold additional hearings.

‘I want a fair and transparent process, and let’s see where that process goes,’ Lopez said, adding, ‘Everyone will have their day in court.’

At a prior court hearing following the auction, Murray said, ‘the creditors ended up significantly better off’ under the Onion’s bid. He also explained in a filing that the majority of Sandy Hook families were willing to forgo their share of the sale proceeds and instead take a percentage from future revenues from a revamped Infowars, which would allow the other creditors to collect more money.

The Onion estimates its total bid value is $7 million.

But Walter Cicack, a lawyer for First American United Companies, said in its filing that the arrangement amounts to a ‘Monopoly’ money bid since any future revenues are undetermined.

‘This was not simply collaboration,’ he said of the Onion’s support from Sandy Hook families, ‘this was outright collusive bid rigging.’

Chris Mattei, an attorney for some of the victims’ families, said in a previous statement that the Onion did ‘a public service’ by spearheading the purchase and ‘will meaningfully hinder Jones’ ability to do more harm.’

Lawyers for the Onion said in a filing Sunday that the company has been ‘harassed and threatened by the Debtor and members of his audience since their winning bid was announced.’ They argued that the sale should proceed, writing that a joint bid ‘does not amount to collusion’ and disputing the idea that there was a lack of transparency because the auction used a sealed bid process.

‘Sealed bids maintain the competitive tension between bidders and force bidders to offer up their best terms irrespective of where other bids sit,’ the lawyers wrote, adding, ‘Far from maintaining this process in secrecy, once the Trustee selected the Successful Bidder, the Trustee publicly disclosed all information about the Qualified Bids, including by disclosing copies of the initial and final bids submitted by each Qualified Bidder.’

Onion CEO Ben Collins — who previously covered disinformation and conspiracy theories for NBC News — had said on social media that while ‘the judge had some questions about process and assets,’ its ‘bid with the families is clearly the best.’

Collins also wrote that the Onion plans to relaunch Infowars as ‘the dumbest website on the internet.’ A person with knowledge of the sale told NBC News the new platform will include well-known internet humor writers and content creators. 

In announcing the sale, the Onion put out a news release written in the voice of a satirical CEO of Global Tetrahedron, the publication’s Chicago-based parent company.

Infowars was briefly shut down after the sale was announced before it resumed operating with Jones, who claimed the site was ‘hijacked.’

Meanwhile, Jones — who built a small media empire off of promoting conspiracy theories and misinformation — has claimed that Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump are investigating the bankruptcy auction in his favor after Musk’s X Corp. filed a notice of appearance in the case. X Corp. is presumed to be an interested party because Jones uses X to broadcast his show and the case involves the potential transfer of Jones’ X handle in the sale.

Lawyers for Jones filed a request last week for a temporary restraining order to invalidate the Onion’s bid, and asserted that First United American Companies should be the successful bidder. Jones described the auction process as ‘fraudulent,’ but told his audience that regardless of what happens with Infowars, he won’t be silenced.

The box office this weekend will be painted pink and green, with a splash of red.

Universal’s “Wicked” and Paramount’s “Gladiator II” arrive ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday and are expected to tally more than $200 million in combined ticket sales this weekend.

″‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ are the kind of counter-programming duo punch movie theaters and audiences have been eagerly anticipating,” said Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory. “This fall’s box office has seen its share of ups and downs as usual, but these two films are on course to kickstart a potentially historic holiday corridor with ‘Moana 2’ also ready to deliver big results during Thanksgiving next week.”

“Wicked” has already tallied $19.2 million at the domestic box office from advance screenings held during the week. Amazon Prime members doled out $2.5 million at 750 theaters in the U.S. on Monday, and another $5.7 million was collected from around 2,000 theaters on Wednesday in the U.S. and Canada. “Wicked” snared an additional $11 million from standard Thursday night preview screenings at around 3,300 theaters.

Tracking projections for “Wicked” started around $80 million in late October, but have since risen to a range of $120 million to $140 million, with some projecting an even higher three-day total for the film’s debut weekend.

Hollywood has struggled to market and make a profit on movie musicals in recent years. However, the industry has also seen fan-favorite IP-driven titles outperform. With “Wicked” being based on one of Broadway’s most popular musicals, box office analysts are finding it tricky to predict where it will land.

Heading into its opening, “Wicked” held a 92% “Fresh” rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes from more than 160 critics. Its popcornmeter, a metric the site uses to calculate what percentage of verified movie ticket holders rated the film with 3.5 stars or higher, stands at 99% with more than 2,500 ratings.

Whatever it hauls in for the weekend, “Wicked” should debut as the highest-opening Broadway adaptation in cinematic history. The current record holder is Disney’s “Into the Woods,” which secured $31 million during its first three days in theaters in 2014, according to data from Comscore.

Meanwhile, “Gladiator II” tallied $6.5 million from Thursday previews and is expected to add between $60 million and $80 million to the domestic weekend tally. The film, which arrives 24 years after the original, has secured a 73% “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes from more than 200 reviews. For comparison, “Gladiator” snared $34.8 million during its opening weekend back in May 2000.

“The so-called ‘Glicked’ movie mashup is reminiscent of the ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon and is creating a cultural buzz,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “And though not quite at that level, has certainly raised the profile of both films and that combined with overwhelming positive reviews has positioned these two very different movies for opening weekend glory and more importantly long-term playability through the holidays.”

Between “Wicked,” “Gladiator II” and previously released films still in theaters, box office analysts foresee a weekend of ticket sales between $200 million and $250 million. While impressive, that would still fall outside of the top 20 highest-grossing weekends of all time, according to data from Comscore.

The “Barbenheimer” weekend of July 21, 2023, topped $311 million, the fourth-highest weekend haul of all time.

“It’s not all about the first hours or days, though,” Robbins noted. “These films can and probably will play well for weeks to come, especially if word of mouth mirrors that of critics’ reactions.”

This weekend’s tally will help bolster the overall annual box office, which lags 11% behind 2023 levels during the same period. And the moviegoers coming to theaters will be treated to advertisements for other films coming in December and later in 2025.

“Our job is to maximize what’s coming in that door,” said Greg Marcus, CEO of Marcus Corporation, owner of Marcus Theatres and Marcus Hotels and Resorts. “Take care of our customers. Give the customers that show up a great experience. Make sure that lines are as moving as quickly as we can, so that we can serve them, literally and figuratively, and show them what a great time it is to go to the movies and enjoy something with other people.”

Marcus Theatres alongside dozens of other cinema chains, big and small, are offering guests drink and food specials, themed popcorn buckets and beverage containers as well as other movie merchandise at their locations.

Cinemark has a “Gladiator II” popcorn bucket shaped like the Colosseum and a gladiator helmet that fits over its drink cups to hold popcorn. Regal has a witch hat-shaped cup. AMC’s menu features pink and green candy-coated popcorn as well as a collection of themed drinks like green apple ICEE, Sprite variants called Ozdust Punch and Emerald Elixir and alcoholic beverages named Popular Pink and Gravity Green.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, CNBC, Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes. NBCUniversal is the distributor of “Wicked.”