General Growth Properties Inc., the No. 2 U.S. mall owner, is slated to clear its final bankruptcy hurdle on Thursday, ending the largest U.S. real estate Chapter 11 filing.
While bankruptcy could soon be behind it, the company has a lot of challenges ahead, as investors and Wall Street will be looking at how it regains credibility as one of the largest U.S. real estate investment trusts. Get the full story »
Morgan Stanley became the latest investment bank to report weaker results Wednesday from a trading slowdown during the summer, reporting a net loss during the third quarter as revenue fell 20 percent.
AptarGroup Inc.’s third-quarter earnings rose 40% to beat views, but the product-dispenser maker was downbeat about earnings for the current quarter because of dollar strength and a tough comparison. Get the full story »
Jimmy Buffett. (John Fitzhugh/Biloxi Sun Herald/MCT)
Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurant is sailing into Navy Pier for a 10-year run.
The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which owns and operates the pier, announced the lease Wednesday morning.
“So, we’ll have the Caribbean in February on Navy Pier,” said David Mosena, chairman of the authority, known as McPier. The authority is hoping the restaurant and entertainment venue will serve as an attendance magnet year-round. Get the full story »
EBay Inc. posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit and forecast stronger earnings for the holiday season as the Internet commerce company strives to reinvigorate its main marketplaces unit. Get the full story »
Netflix Inc. on Wednesday said its third-quarter net income grew as the online movie rental company continued to attract subscribers, particularly to its Internet streaming service.
The company also raised its subscriber growth forecast for the current quarter, sending shares higher in after-hours trading.
Apple's new ultralight MacBook Air laptops will start at $999. (Getty Images)
Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the thinnest, lightest Mac laptop yet with features borrowed from iPhones and iPads, hoping to grab more market share from Microsoft’s Windows PCs.
The new MacBook Air starts at $999, weighs as little as 2.3 pounds (1 kg), and measures 0.11 inches (0.3 cm) at its thinnest to 0.68 inches (1.7 cm) at the rear. It is designed to replicate the versatility of popular devices like the iPhone and iPad on its venerable computer line, and will incorporate Facetime video chats and an apps store.
Running on flash storage like the iPad rather than hard drives like conventional computers, it can power up instantly and store data twice as fast, executive said. Get the full story »
Monsanto said it received a unsolicited mini-tender offer on Tuesday by TRC Capital Corp. to purchase 2 million shares of stock at $54.15 per share. That offer, the company said, is 5.5 percent below the $57.30 Monsanto’s shares were selling by closing price on Tuesday.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper weighed in on miner BHP Billiton’s $39 billion bid to take over Saskatchewan-based Potash Corp. on Wednesday, calling it a proposal by an Australian-based company to take over an American-controlled company.
The Conservative government has until Nov. 3 to decide whether to approve the bid for Potash, the world’s biggest fertilizer producer. Ottawa is required to determine whether the bid would be a net benefit for Canada. Get the full story »
Tourists pose for photographs in front of "The Bean" in Millennium Park, Jan. 28, 2010. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)
Chicago and New York tourism officials announced Tuesday their first-ever collaborative effort to lure visitors to their respective cities in the dead of winter.
The Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau and the Chicago Office of Tourism joined with NYC & Co., the organization that markets the Big Apple, to secure discounts on American Airline flights between their cities during the traditionally slow post-holiday months. Get the full story »
The Obama administration said Wednesday that it found no sign of “systemic” troubles s with U.S. home mortgages, as banks sought to play down a crisis over accusations of shoddy foreclosure practices.
But Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan insisted the government would “take every action” to press banks to fix paperwork problems at the core of a foreclosure crisis that has put major financial firms on the hot seat. Get the full story »
A large group of Blockbuster Inc. shareholders is seeking a better offer for the bankrupt movie rental chain than the deal that would put billionaire Carl Icahn and a group of hedge funds in control.
Shareholder Greg Maggipinto said he and other investors who own up to 40 percent of the stock think Icahn’s deal, which would wipe out his holdings, undervalues the company. Get the full story »
The U.S. economy grew sluggishly in recent weeks with scant inflation pressures, and employers were reluctant to hire or invest amid economic and policy uncertainties, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.
The U.S. central bank’s Beige Book provided further evidence the economy is stuck in a weak recovery that is failing to generate jobs. Get the full story »
First Midwest Bancorp Inc., the $8.38 billion-asset parent of First Midwest Bank, missed Wall Street’s expectations for its third-quarter results, sending the Itasca-based lender’s shares down 13.7 percent in mid-afternoon trading.
By some measures, credit trends took a turn for the worse. Get the full story »
Verizon Wireless, the No. 1 U.S. mobile service, plans to sell Samsung Electronics’s Galaxy Tab for $30 less than Apple Inc’s iPad, but analysts say the new tablet computer is priced too high. Get the full story »
