German sporting goods company Adidas aims to grow sales to $24 billion by 2015 as it strives to overtake market leader Nike. “Our aspirations are to outperform total market growth … to outgrow our major competitor and have the bottom line grow faster than the top line,” Chief Executive Herbert Hainer said on Monday in a presentation to analysts at the company’s headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Get the full story »
More credit card fees ahead
Less than a year after the passage of new laws limiting banks’ ability to impose certain fees on credit and debit cards, Bank of America Corp., Discover Financial Services, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and other lenders are using different tactics to boost their fee income.
Some are raising minimum payments on certain customers’ accounts in order to increase late penalties. Others are ramping up credit-protection insurance programs and charging customers for coverage without permission. Still others are pushing aggressively into high-fee prepaid cards, which are exempt from most of the new rules. Get the full story »
Nov. 8, 2010 at 5:30 a.m.
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Filed under: The day ahead in business
Major earnings: Chrysler Group LLC
Events: Presidential oil spill commission meets, through Nov. 9. Testimony expected from representatives of Halliburton Co. and Transocean Ltd.
Bunge buys two Indiana grain elevators
Bunge North America, a division of agribusiness giant Bunge Ltd., said it bought Indiana-based Morristown Grain Co Inc, which includes two grain elevators in Morristown and Rushville. Get the full story »
Boeing denies report of new Dreamliner delay
Boeing Co. on Friday said it still plans to deliver its first long-delayed 787 Dreamliner in the first quarter of 2011.
The statement followed a report in Aviation Week, citing people familiar with the situation, saying the world’s second-largest plane maker has told some customers they could face delays of as much as 10 months.
Shares of Boeing fell more than 2 percent in after-hours trading on Friday after a published report said the plane maker has told several early customers of the 787 Dreamliner of more delivery delays. Get the full story »
Chase to stop issuing new debit rewards cards
Chase plans to stop issuing new debit rewards cards in February. An executive from the bank disclosed the plans Thursday at a banking event.
A Chase spokesman said Friday that the bank is still reviewing the program for existing debit reward customers. Get the full story »
Google blocks data from Facebook amid rivalry
Google will begin blocking Facebook and other Web services from accessing its users’ information, highlighting an intensifying rivalry between the two Internet giants.
Google will no longer let other services automatically import its users’ email contact data for their own purposes, unless the information flows both ways. It accused Facebook in particular of siphoning up Google contact data, without allowing for the automatic import and export of Facebook users’ information.
Facebook, with more than 500 million users, relies on email services such as Google’s Gmail to help new users find friends already on the network. When a person joins, they are asked to import their Gmail contact list into the social network service. Facebook then tells the user which email contacts are also on the social network. Get the full story »
State Farm to raise homeowner rates 5.3%
Bloomington-based State Farm is raising its homeowners’ rates by 5.3 percent in Illinois, according to a new filing with the Illinois Department of Insurance.
The rate change kicked in on Nov. 1 for new customers. For customers renewing with State Farm, the rate hike will start on Jan. 1.
In July 2009, State Farm announced an average statewide rate increase of 13 percent for its Illinois homeowners insurance policyholders. Get the full story »
Berkshire-Hathaway profit falls on derivative losses
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway said on Friday that its third-quarter profit fell as it lost money on a portfolio of stock index derivatives, despite strong market gains in the quarter. Get the full story »
Clearwire cuts jobs amid cash crunch
From The Wall Street Journal | Wireless operator Clearwire Corp. said it is cutting 15 percent of its 4,200 employees and warned that uncertainty about new financing raises substantial doubt about its ability to continue to operate.
Chicago puts off $804 million bonds sale
From The Bond Buyer | The city of Chicago is postponing next week’s $804 million bond sale, hoping to secure better interest rates. Chicago’s credit ranking has been cut by Fitch Ratings twice in less than three months. “We are trying to minimize the perceived Illinois penalty by showing investors that the city’s exposure to state payment delays is limited and that we don’t have the same risk as some other borrowers because of Chicago’s home-rule status,” said city chief financial officer Gene Saffold. “The state collects our share of income taxes and sales taxes but it is pretty well caught up.”
Nov. 5, 2010 at 3:39 p.m.
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Filed under: Chicago executives, Food, International, Personnel moves McDonald’s names new European head
Two days after the head of its European business unexpectedly resigned, McDonald’s Corp. found his replacement.
Steve Easterbrook, the burger chain’s global chief brand officer, will become president of McDonald’s Europe on Dec. 1. He succeeds Denis Hennequin, who resigned Wednesday to become chief executive officer of Accor Hotels Group. Get the full story »
Bernanke defends Fed from global critics
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday defended the U.S. central bank’s bond-buying against beggar-thy-neighbor criticism, saying it was “critical” for global stability that the U.S. economy regain its strength.
Doing so, he suggested, would bolster a dollar whose weakness has sparked cries of foul from Bogota to Beijing.
The U.S. central bank’s decision to buy $600 billion of government debt has drawn scathing comments from a host of nations who contend it is generating global instability by ramping up their currencies against the dollar, inflating asset bubbles and stoking inflation in their economies. Get the full story »
MSNBC suspends Olbermann for political activity
Keith Olbermann. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file)
MSNBC has suspended prime-time host Keith Olbermann indefinitely without pay for contributing to the campaigns of three Democratic candidates this election season.
Olbermann acknowledged to NBC that he donated $2,400 apiece to the campaigns of Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway and Arizona Reps. Raul Grivalva and Gabrielle Giffords.
NBC News prohibits its employees from working on, or donating to, political campaigns unless a special exception is granted by the news division president — effectively a ban. Olbermann’s bosses did not find out about the donations until after they were made. The website Politico first reported the donations. Get the full story »
