ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | A 19-room, 17,000-square-foot mansion in Hinsdale that is owned by the founder of the Addison-based Pampered Chef kitchenware company has just come on the market for $6.8 million.
Doris Christopher founded the Pampered Chef and then sold it in 2002 to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway company. Now, Christopher and her husband on Oct. 9 placed their mansion, which sits on a 1.9-acre hilltop in east Hinsdale, on the market. Get the full story »
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Marquette University announced Monday that economics professor Abdur Chowdhury has been appointed to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Academic Advisory Council.
Oil prices slipped Monday as the dollar strengthened and traders hunkered down ahead of some important economic news later this week. Get the full story »
The new Windows Phone 7 is presented at the Windows Phone 7 launch press conference in New York, Oct. 11, 2010. (Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi)
See a photo gallery of the Windows 7 phones here.
Microsoft on Monday unveiled its plan to battle the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry smartphones with its new Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system.
At a press event in New York, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that Windows Phone 7 smartphones would be available in the United States on AT&T’s network.
“When Microsoft first showed us Windows Phone 7, we knew it was going to be a winner,” AT&T CEO Mobility and Consumer Markets Ralph de la Vega said at the event. “It was different than anything we’ve seen.” Get the full story »
Technology firm NanoInk, Inc. said it has received $65 million in financing from Chicago investor Ann Lurie’s Lurie Investments.
“This financing provides working capital to continue our commercial activities and support our growing sales base,” said NanoInk chief executive officer James Hussey, a long-time local developer of biotechnology. “This financing also provides an opportunity for the company to convert substantially all of our debt to equity.” Get the full story »
Half of financial professionals on Wall Street expect to get a higher bonus this year, and some of those expect a much bigger payout, according to an annual survey by financial job board, eFinancialCareers.com.
Eleven percent expect bonuses that are at least 50 percent higher than those paid out at the start of 2010, according to eFinancialCareers, a unit of Dice Holdings Inc, even though 2010 was seen as a “sideways” year for the stock market. Get the full story »
Children’s clothing retailer Gymboree Corp. is being purchased by affiliates of asset management firm Bain Capital for $1.8 billion.
Gymboree said Monday that the deal is for $65.40 per share, a 24 percent premium to Gymboree’s Friday closing stock price of $52.95. The retailer, based in San Francisco, currently has about 27.3 million shares outstanding. Get the full story »
McDonald's McRib sandwich. (McDonald's)
The elusiveness of McDonald’s McRib sandwich’s has created a fan base of people who go to considerable lengths to munch on one of the boneless pork patties. Ryan Dixon of Burbank, Calif., once drove 10 hours to Medford, Ore., after hearing a McDonald’s there was selling the sandwich.
McRibs, launched in 1981 are almost never available at all McDonald’s restaurants at the same time. Instead, the Oak Brook,, company offers them in different cities at different times, rarely for longer than a few weeks. Get the full story »
Rival bidders may be looking to derail BHP Billiton’s $39 billion bid for Canada’s Potash Corp., with China’s Sinochem and a Canadian pension fund working on plans, according to newspaper reports. Get the full story »
Karl Case, the co-creator of a widely watched housing market index, was upbeat three weeks ago. Mulling the economy while at a meeting at a resort near the Berkshires, Case thought the makings of a recovery were finally falling into place.
Today, Case’s mood is far more subdued. In scarcely two weeks, he and other housing analysts have watched as the once-staid world of back-office bank procedures has spawned a scandal that threatens to further unhinge the housing market. Get the full story »
Markets: Bond markets closed for Columbus Day
Investor William Ackman (Reuters)
Activist investor William Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management confirmed it has built an 11 percent stake in Fortune Brands Inc. and said it plans to discuss the future of the business with the consumer conglomerate’s board and management.
Pershing, in a 13-D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, said that it believes Fortune shares are undervalued and that it plans to also have discussions with other shareholders.
Fortune shares on Friday closed 7.4 percent higher, at $55.85.
Get the full story »
U.S. lawmakers pushed for the country’s largest mortgage lenders to suspend foreclosures in all 50 states after Bank of America Corp announced on Friday it would temporarily halt evictions nationwide.
BofA, the largest U.S. mortgage servicer, is the first U.S. bank to institute a nationwide freeze on foreclosures, expanding on a 23-state suspension announced last week while it conducts a review of its procedures. Get the full story »
