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BP Plc is expected to announce in the next 24 hours that Chief Executive Tony Hayward will step down and be replaced by Bob Dudley, a soft-spoken American unlikely to repeat the gaffes that have come to define Hayward in many Americans’ minds.
Dudley heads BP’s oil spill response effort. Just over a week ago, BP installed a temporary cap on the Macondo well, which had been spewing up to 60,000 barrels per day of oil into the Gulf of Mexico since April. Get the full story »
Kenneth Feinberg on July 22 in Washington. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Pay czar Kenneth Feinberg said on Friday that 17 banks overpaid executives in late 2008 and early 2009 by about $1.6 billion during the financial crisis, when taxpayers’ money was being used to support them.
He proposed that financial firms adopt policies that would let them “restructure, reduce or cancel” bonus and other special payments to executives in future crises but said he had no authority to force banks to give back past overpayments. Get the full story »
Shares of MB Financial fell 6.9 percent in mid-day trading, after the Chicago-based bank reported a threefold rise in the money it set aside for bad loans and warned that the economy will remain weak and volatile well into 2011 and possibly into 2012.
MB Chief Executive Mitch Feiger noted during an earnings conference call with analysts that the new federal financial reform bill is “relatively benign,” particularly for banks with assets of less than $15 billion. But he said the bank is a “little worried” about a provision that would lengthen an already “painfully slow” foreclosure process in Cook County. Currently, it can take 18 months to 24 months from the time that a bank initiates a foreclosure until the time it takes possession of the property. Get the full story »
OfficeMax Inc. said its chief operating officer has left to become the chief executive of another public company, the latest executive to leave–or plan to leave–its ranks. The office-supplies retailer said Sam Martin, who was also an executive vice president, stepped down from his role effective Wednesday. Get the full story »
David Mosena, a former chief of staff to Mayor Richard Daley who currently is president and CEO of the Museum of Science and Industry, was elected Wednesday as the new chairman of the agency that runs McCormick Place and Navy Pier.
Mosena’s was selected unanimously by the newly appointed interim board of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the state-city agency known as McPier that owns and operates the convention complex and the pier.
Prior to joining the museum in 1997, Mosena served as president of the Chicago Transit Authority. He also has served as the city’s aviation commissioner and its planning commissioner. Get the full story »
Conrad Black left a Florida prison Wednesday, after a Chicago federal judge ordered his release on a $2 million bond pending a review of his 2007 fraud conviction.
U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve ordered Black, who once controlled a media company that owned the Chicago Sun-Times, to appear in her courtroom at 12:30 p.m. Friday, to go over the conditions of his release. Get the full story »
American Airlines announced it was shaking up its senior management team after reporting a second-quarter loss at a time when competitors like United and Delta Airlines posted their largest profits in years.
Texas-based American, which with United dominates Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, is promoting chief financial officer Tim Horton to the role of president. Get the full story »
CME Group Inc CEO Craig Donohue told employees he is “pleased” with many of the provisions in Washington’s financial reform bill, but raised concerns about the leeway it gives regulators.
The U.S. exchange and clearinghouse operator strongly supported a late addition to the bill that “prohibits mandated linkages for clearing houses,” also known as interoperability, Donohue and government relations head Linda Rich said in an internal memo dated June 30 and obtained by Reuters. Get the full story »
From Crain’s Chicago Business | Anne Sempowski Ward, president and chief operating officer of Johnson Publishing Co., publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, is stepping down. The move has prompted speculation that former White House social secretary Desiree Rogers, recently named a consultant to Johnson Publishing, may be in line for the job.
Mitchell C. Berk has been named chief executive of Hilco Consumer Capital LLC, a brand management firm with Polaroid, Sharper Image and Halston among its clients.
Berk takes over from interim CEO Eric Kaup, who is general counsel for parent, Northbrook-based Hilco Trading. Get the full story »
Tech and media moguls who gathered in Idaho for an annual confab this week sounded a mostly cautious note on the economy. Big debts and still-depressed housing prices will continue to weigh on consumers, said Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media Corp., whose entertainment businesses include the Starz pay-TV channel and QVC shopping network.
H&R Block Inc. named Alan M. Bennett as its new president and CEO after its previous chief executive, Russ Smyth, resigned to take another CEO post. The executive shuffle comes as the nation’s largest tax preparer struggles with the growing popularity of do-it-yourself online filing.
The company said Smyth resigned in order to take the CEO job at a privately held Chicago-based company, which it did not name. A longtime McDonald’s Corp. executive, Smyth was chosen for the post two years ago because of his experience in franchise operations and brand building. Get the full story »
Dylan Maki, 4, of Evanston, plays with his Happy Meal toy outside of the McDonald's at Navy Pier on July 7, 2010. (William DeShazer/Chicago Tribune)
McDonald’s defended its Happy Meals on Wednesday against claims by a consumer advocacy group, with McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner saying that “Happy Meals are a fun treat, with right-sized, quality food choices.”
Skinner’s letter addressing this issue comes a week after the Center for Science in the Public Interest sent a letter to McDonald’s threatening to sue if the company didn’t stop using toys to market Happy Meals to young children.
“By advertising that Happy Meals include toys, McDonald’s unfairly and deceptively markets directly to children,” the letter stated. Get the full story »
