Waukegan-based slot machine maker WMS Industries Inc. said its gaming unit filed a patent infringement lawsuit against a unit of smaller rival Bally Technologies Inc., seeking injunctive relief and unspecified damages.
Several of Bally Gaming’s products, including its Cash Spin product, infringe WMS patents covering WMS’ Transmissive Reels gaming concept and technology, WMS said in a statement. Get the full story »
Want to make a donation to the Salvation Army? Just hit send on your cell phone.
As part of an effort to attract a younger generation of donors, the Salvation Army Chicago Metropolitan Division will soon accept donations via text messages.
After seeing the success of text messaging campaigns for relief efforts after earthquakes devastated Haiti in January — a record $43 million has been collected, according to the Mobile Giving Foundation — nonprofits have been lining up with their own campaigns.
Playboy Enterprises Inc. is looking to sublease its headquarters space at 680 N. Lake Shore Drive.
The company confirmed this morning that it hired real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield to sublease the 15th and 16th floors of the building because the space “is too big for us,” said spokeswoman Martha Lindeman.
Lindeman said the company has not started looking for a new home to relocate its 245 full-time employees. “We haven’t made any plans at all,” she said. Get the full story »
Abbott Laboratories reported third-quarter profits tumbled 40 percent thanks to the costs of withdrawing a diet drug from the U.S. market and global cost-cutting in the wake of its acquisition of Solvay Pharmaceuticals.
The North Chicago-based drug and medical product giant reported earnings of $891 million, or 57 cents a share, compared to $1.5 billion, or 95 cents a share in the third quarter of 2009.
Net earnings included after-tax charges of $513 million, or 33 cents a share due to a major product withdrawal, a recall of infant formula in the U.S. and costs that Abbott said was primarily related to restructuring following the Solvay deal. Abbott last month said it would cut about 3,000 jobs worldwide or about 3 percent of the company’s global workforce to eliminate redundancies following the purchase. Get the full story »
Wells Fargo & Co.’s income rose 19 percent in the three months ending in September as losses from failed loans continued to fall.
Wells Fargo’s net income after paying preferred dividends was $3.15 billion, or 60 cents per share, ahead of the 55 cents per share analysts were expecting, the San Francisco bank reported Wednesday. The bank earned $2.64 billion, or 56 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.
Boeing Co. posted a quarterly profit that beat expectations, and it boosted its full year forecast, helped by a strong recovery in the commercial airplane market.
The world’s largest aerospace and defense company’s order backlog rose, especially on the commercial side of its business, helped by a surge in orders from the Middle East and Asia. Get the full story »
Older Americans whose retirement accounts took a beating from the market’s downturn caught a break last year when the government suspended rules that required them to make annual withdrawals.
But now that the markets are starting to come back, Uncle Sam wants his share again. Get the full story »
Baby gear maker Graco is recalling about 2 million strollers after receiving reports that four infants died in the strollers. The strollers being recalled are older versions of the Graco Quattro Tour and MetroLite strollers and travel systems, all made before 2007.
By Michael Oneal, Steve Mills and Stacy St. Clair | Randy Michaels, Tribune Co.’s embattled chief executive, has decided to resign his post at the Chicago-based media company and intends to leave the company before the end of the week, sources close to the situation said.
He will be replaced by a four-member office of the president that the sources said would comprise Eddy Hartenstein, president and publisher of the Los Angeles Times; Tony Hunter, president and publisher of the Chicago Tribune Media Group; Nils Larsen, Tribune Co.’s chief investment officer; and Don Liebentritt, chief restructuring officer.
Reports: Federal Reserve releases Beige Book, 1 p.m.
Local earnings: Abbott Laboratories, Boeing Co.
Other major earnings: Altria Group Inc., AMR Corp., Delta Air Lines Inc., E-Trade Financial Corp., EBay Inc., Morgan Stanley, Netflix Inc., U.S. Bancorp and U.S. Airways Group Inc.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s earnings easily beat analysts’ forecasts again, but the bank saw a big slowdown in trading, its most profitable business.
Get the full story »
James Tyree, the Mesirow Financial chief executive who nearly four years ago had a kidney and pancreas transplant, has been diagnosed with stomach cancer.
Tyree said he doesn’t know the stage of the cancer yet.
“I’ll find that out over the next few days,” he told the Tribune in a phone interview from his office, where he continues to work every day. “They did more tests to find out if it has spread anywhere else,” he said, noting that it’s currently in his stomach and one lymph node. Get the full story »
From Crain’s Chicago Business | Chicago-based company Sun-Times Media LLC is cutting jobs across the company, including at the Chicago Sun-Times, the Post-Tribune in Merrillville, Ind., and the Southtown Star in Tinley Park.
A string of Federal Reserve officials on Tuesday indicated the central bank will soon offer further monetary stimulus to the economy, with one saying $100 billion a month in bond buys may be appropriate. Get the full story »
Don DuPree, who was hired by WBBM-Ch. 2 15 months ago as assistant news director, is leaving the station after next month’s elections. DuPree is the former director of “Siskel & Ebert” and executive producer of “Ebert & Roeper and the Movies.”
