U.S. online retailer Amazon.com is to buy the 58 percent of British DVD and games rental firm Lovefilm it does not already own for an undisclosed price, it said on Thursday.
Lovefilm, whose Europe-focused business has a similar model to U.S. video rental firm Netflix Inc., has built a movie rental-by-mail business and has also started streaming digital movies. Get the full story »
From the New York Times | Few American cities have suffered as acutely as Rockford, where unemployment reached nearly 16 percent last summer, says the New York Times in a photographic tour, with audio interviews, through its stores, factories and offices. Get the full story>>
Early morning commuter traffic southbound on the Kennedy Expressway near Kimball. (José M. Osorio/Tribune)
In a confirmation that the worsening traffic aches and pains drivers here feel are real, the Chicago region has shot up to No. 1 in road congestion in the U.S., according to a long-running study of mobility problems choking the nation.
The increasing gridlock on major roadways at almost any hour, any day of the week was measured in 2009, when drivers in many other metropolitan areas caught a slight breather from growing congestion, said the Urban Mobility Report, issued Thursday by the Texas Transportation Institute.
Beyond the time it normally would take for an automobile trip in relatively free-flowing traffic, commuters in the Chicago area, including northwest Indiana, spent an additional 70 hours behind the wheel in 2009, the study said.
The Obama administration plans to intensify a crackdown on employers of illegal immigrants with the establishment of an audit office designed to bolster verification of company hiring records.
In an interview, John Morton, chief of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a unit of the Department of Homeland Security, said the Employment Compliance Inspection Center would “address a need to conduct audits even of the largest employers with a very large number of employees.” The office would be announced Thursday, he said. Get the full story »
Wendy’s/Arby’s Group Inc. plans to slice away the Arby’s sandwich chain by putting it up for sale, people familiar with the matter said.
The move represents a concession by activist investor Nelson Peltz that Arby’s, known for its roast beef sandwiches, is having trouble competing in an industry where the only viable ways to grow are to steal market share from rivals or expand overseas-two things Wendy’s is better positioned than Arby’s to accomplish. Get the full story »
A committee of Hewlett-Packard directors will investigate former CEO Mark Hurd’s departure from the company amid sexual harassment allegations last year, according to a recent court filing.
The inquiry comes in the course of shareholder litigation involving the company. The investigation will be conducted by independent directors who joined HP’s board after Hurd’s departure, assisted by outside lawyers, the Jan. 14 court filing shows. Get the full story »
Career Education Corp. said Wednesday that it will cut its U.S. work force by 7 percent, or 600 positions, as the for-profit educator looks to reduce costs in the face of slowing enrollment growth.
The company, whose schools include Le Cordon Bleu North America and American InterContinental University, said the reductions will roll out over the next few months. Career Education will book a charge of up to $8 million in its fiscal fourth quarter on severance and related costs. Get the full story »
Automotive News | Kia has confirmed that it has dropped the Rondo van and Borrego full-size SUV from its U.S. lineup. Though Kia did not provide a reason, U.S. sales of the two cars fell in 2010.
Forbes | Playboy is coming to the iPad in the all-together starting in March, according to a tweet from Hugh Hefner.
An online group implicated in the theft of 100,000 e-mail addresses of Apple iPad users says two of its members arrested Tuesday did nothing wrong.
Daniel Spitler and Andrew Auernheimer face counts of fraud and conspiracy to access a computer without authorization. The counts each carry a five-year maximum prison sentence. Get the full story »
As Netflix and other video services offer thousands of movies streamed over the Internet, all those choices are creating a dilemma: what to watch next.
A 2-year-old movie recommendation Web site called Clerkdogs is addressing the problem by offering online chats with former video store clerks, film critics and other movie buffs. Get the full story »
Nokia has pulled out of a plan to launch a smart phone with No. 2 U.S. mobile provider AT&T Inc., just before the device was supposed to be announced, a person familiar with the matter said.
The touchscreen phone, to be called the X7, could have helped Nokia gain ground in North America, where it has struggled to compete with rivals such as Apple Inc., Research in Motion and Motorola Mobility. Get the full story »
Crain’s Chicago Business | Chef Rick Bayless has opened his Frontera sandwich shop at O’Hare; a second Frontera offshoot is coming there soon.
Most local banks owned by $2.93 billion-asset Metropolitan Bank Group Inc., a Chicago-based lender owned by animal adoption advocates Peter and Paula Fasseas, have been ordered by state and federal banking regulators to shape up. Get the full story »
On the heels of disappointing fourth-quarter earnings that drove its stock down 5.7 percent Wednesday, Northern Trust Corp., Chicago’s biggest locally headquartered bank, said the recently announced hike on Illinois business taxes will reduce its profits by an estimated $4 million a year starting in 2012.
“If it doesn’t get vetoed, and we don’t think it will,” Northern Chief Financial Officer William Morrison said during an hour-long conference call to discuss fourth quarter results. Get the full story »
