Feb. 10 at 4:58 p.m.
Filed under:
Airlines,
Airports,
Regulations,
Updated
By Julie Johnsson
Federal officials are poised to broaden new tarmac delay rules to include overseas carriers, closing a loophole that was exposed during the Boxing Day blizzard that shuttered New York City’s airports.
The U.S. Department of Transportation said Thursday it expects to issue the latest passenger protections in April and will likely build on a controversial 2010 rule that set fines of $27,500 for every passenger on board planes operated by domestic carriers that idle at an airport for more than 180 minutes. Get the full story »
Feb. 10 at 4:50 p.m.
Filed under:
Exchanges,
International,
M&A
By Reuters
CME Group Inc. is still digesting the news that Deutsche Boerse is in talks to buy NYSE Euronext, a top executive said, and it is unclear how difficult a deal it will be to complete. Get the full story »
Feb. 10 at 4:33 p.m.
Filed under:
Chicago executives,
Insurance,
Updated
By Becky Yerak
Allstate CEO Tom Wilson in 2008. (Alex Garcia/Chicago Tribune)
The average homeowners’ premium for Allstate Corp. customers rose by 7.1 percent in 2010, and Chief Executive Tom Wilson said Thursday that “you should expect to see it go up” in 2011 as well.
Wilson made the remark during an hour-long conference call with analysts and investors. He discussed the Northbrook-based auto and home insurer’s fourth-quarter results, which fell short of expectations. On a day when the wider markets were basically flat, Allstate stock closed down 3.6 percent to $31.20 a share, making it the day’s worst local stock performer.
Some analysts are becoming increasingly frustrated with Allstate’s management. Get the full story »
By Julie Wernau
Exelon CEO John Rowe saw his total compensation for 2010 rise 14 percent to $7.2 million, according to documents filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission, an increase largely tied to a change in the theoretical value of his pension.
Rowe had the opportunity to earn stock performance awards worth $1.1 million — compensation that is directly tied to the performance of Exelon stock. But the company’s shares performed in the negative direction in 2010 and Rowe received no equity for performance.
At the same time, stock options worth $1.15 million were underwater at the end of 2010. Get the full story »
Feb. 10 at 3:20 p.m.
Filed under:
Investing,
Retail,
Venture capital
By Reuters
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Chicago-based daily deal site Groupon said on Thursday Starbucks Corp Chief Executive Howard Schultz has joined its board of directors and that his venture capital firm has taken a stake in the daily deals website.
Schultz’ firm, Maveron, previously invested in retailers such as zulily, which offers daily deals on clothing geared to mothers and their children, and the lucy activewear chain, which was sold to VF Corp in 2007.
Groupon reportedly got a $6 billion takeover bid from Google in November, which it turned down. Two-year-old Groupon recently completed a $950 million round of financing. Get the full story »
Feb. 10 at 3:17 p.m.
Filed under:
Banking
From Bloomberg News | Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender by assets, will close some retail branches this year and try to boost revenue from remaining locations by offering investment advice by videoconference, a company manager said.
Feb. 10 at 3:00 p.m.
Filed under:
Airplanes,
Policy,
Politics
By Chicago Breaking News
By Jon Hilkevitch | A Cook County judge on Thursday approved a five-day delay in hearing the lawsuit that United and American airlines have filed to stop the city of Chicago from borrowing about $1 billion for the expansion of O’Hare International Airport.
Feb. 10 at 2:06 p.m.
Filed under:
IPOs,
Internet,
Investing
By Reuters
Facebook is considering letting its employees sell up to $1 billion of their shares to institutional investors, at a price valuing the company at about $60 billion, an influential industry blog reported. Get the full story »
Feb. 10 at 1:44 p.m.
Filed under:
Bankruptcy,
Retail,
Video
By Reuters
Blockbuster Inc., which filed for bankruptcy last year, is preparing to put itself up for sale after creditors disagreed on plans to give the chain more cash, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources. Get the full story »
Feb. 10 at 1:40 p.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Mortgages,
Real estate
By Dow Jones Newswires
Mortgage rates rose in the latest week, with the average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages climbing to the highest level since last April, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of mortgage rates.
“Long-term bond yields jumped on positive economic data reports, which placed upward pressure on mortgage rates this week,” said Freddie Chief Economist Frank Nothaft. Get the full story »
Feb. 10 at 1:33 p.m.
Filed under:
Internet,
M&A,
Video
By Reuters
Google Inc.’s YouTube is in talks to buy video producer Next New Networks, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Get the full story »
Feb. 10 at 1:25 p.m.
Filed under:
Jobs/employment,
Layoffs,
Wireless
By Wailin Wong
Motorola Solutions has laid off 175 employees in its networks business, which is slated to be sold to Nokia Siemens Networks in a $1.2 billion deal.
Motorola Solutions spokeswoman Tama McWhinney said the cuts took place in January and affected workers in Arlington Heights, as well as Fort Worth, Texas, and Tempe, Ariz. The company maintains a presence in all three cities. Get the full story »
Feb. 10 at 1:15 p.m.
Filed under:
Airlines,
Airports
Crain’s Chicago Business | Less than half the December departures from Midway Airport took off on time, according to the Department of Transportation, making its on-time performance the worst in the nation. It did better in arrivals, and United led the major airlines in on-time performance.
Feb. 10 at 1:04 p.m.
Filed under:
Beverages,
Food,
Litigation,
Packaged foods
By Dow Jones Newswires
Kraft Foods Inc. says the U.S. District Court should reverse its decision to allow Starbucks Corp. to take over distribution of Starbucks’ branded packaged coffee March 1.
The packaged-food giant filed a brief late Wednesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, arguing that Kraft will “suffer loss of customer good will, loss of a unique product line and competitive harm if Starbucks is allowed to unilaterally terminate the contract,” the brief says. Get the full story »
By Ameet Sachdev
The co-owners of a Chicago realty company that managed dozens of condominium properties have been charged with fraud for allegedly stealing more than $2 million in assessment payments, the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago said Thursday.
Donald Doering of Wilmette and Jay Strauss of Scottsdale, Ariz., were each charged with three counts of wire fraud in a federal indictment returned by a grand jury Wednesday. Get the full story »
