Winter storms forced airlines to ground nearly 20,000 flights this week and chilled industry earnings, resulting in an estimated net loss of $121 million to $150 million, according to AirlineForecasts LLC on Friday.
American Airlines, the country’s third-largest carrier, took the biggest hit after high winds and ice closed its Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport hub Tuesday. Get the full story »
Automotive News | Speaking at an auto industry conference in San Francisco, Chrysler and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said Friday that the two companies could merge as a U.S.-based automaker after a Chrysler IPO.
Most TV manufacturers may have given up on plasma technology, but the public has not.
Shipments of plasma sets jumped nearly 30% worldwide last year, to 19.1 million from 14.8 million the year before, according to research firm DisplaySearch.
The reason: price.
Plasma sets are “the most affordable large flat-panel TVs for many consumers,” said DisplaySearch in releasing its survey Thursday.
Ally Financial, the former General Motors finance arm that was bailed out by U.S. taxpayers, has selected four investment banks to handle an initial public stock offering.
People familiar with the plans say the stock sale will be led by Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley. The people spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the plans. Get the full story »
French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis could unveil an agreement to acquire U.S. biotech Genzyme before Wednesday, the day Sanofi is due to publish its 2010 results, sources close to the matter said.
A deal would bring to a close the long-running saga sparked by Genzyme’s rejection of Sanofi’s initial $18.5 billion offer, worth $69 a share, which the French group has extended to Feb. 15. Get the full story »
2011 Outlander Sport
Mitsubishi will invest $45 million to produce a new Outlander Sport crossover at its Normal plant beginning in 2012, the company announced Friday with Gov. Pat Quinn.
The deal is backed by $30 million in tax incentives and is expected to breathe new life into a facility that has faced an uncertain future for years. Get the full story »
The owners of the New York Mets were accused of reaping $300 million of fictitious profits from Bernard Madoff’s record Ponzi scheme, a lawsuit by the trustee seeking money for Madoff’s victims said. Get the full story »
Forget the oddsmakers. What does the smart money on Wall Street say about the Super Bowl this Sunday? Green Bay over Pittsburgh.
Using a model that assigns teams in the National Football League a value for outperforming market expectations — what investors call alpha — the Packers will beat the Steelers because the Packers’ alpha is lower. That is, they exceeded expectations less frequently than the Steelers during the season. Get the full story »
Aon Corp. forecast continued margin improvement and posted a quarterly profit that topped Wall Street estimates, as the world’s largest insurance broker began to reap the benefits of its 2009 acquisition of Hewitt Associates.
Aon said restructuring related to the Hewitt integration was expected to help drive margin expansion. Get the full story »
Oil prices fell Friday after the government reported a sharp drop in the unemployment rate, which helped boost the dollar against foreign currencies. Get the full story »
Super Bowl Sunday might be the darling of live television events, but Chris Rogers and Jim Hawley get paid to confront the realities that defy its good-time vibe.
Rogers is risk-control director for Chicago-based Aon Corp.’s national entertainment group, which counsels arenas, stadiums and other public venues on how they can improve safety at their events and in the process avoid disasters or getting sued. Get the full story »
Chicago-based InnerWorkings Inc. said it has acquired a print management firm in Chile as its seeks to expand in Latin America.
Terms of the acquisition of CPRO Services Ltd. were not announced.
CPRO Services had revenues of $22 million in 2009 and employs about 50 people, InnerWorkings said. CPRO’s clients include Unilever, Nestle and LAN Airlines. Get the full story »
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon in Davos. (AP)
What’s eating Jamie Dimon? At last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the JPMorgan Chase chief executive once again lambasted the media and politicians for portraying all bankers as greedy evil-doers.
It was at least the 12th time since the start of the financial crisis that Dimon has complained about Wall Street critics painting all bankers as cut from the same cloth. But the timing of his latest outburst seemed odd. Get the full story »
CNA Surety Corp. said Friday that it has rejected a $375 million buyout offer by its majority owner, CNA Financial Corp. A special committee of CNA Surety’s board said the $22-per-share bid by CNA Financial Corp. “substantially undervalues” the company, but the committee said it was open to more discussions with CNA Financial. Get the full story »
The U.S. economy added a paltry 36,000 jobs in January, the government said Friday. Bad weather likely contributed to the weaker-than-expected hiring, but the report also suggests that many employers remain reluctant to hire despite a strengthening economic recovery.
Even so, the nation’s unemployment rate fell dramatically for the second month in a row. It dropped to 9 percent in January, from 9.4 percent in December and 9.8% in November. Get the full story »
