Verizon Wireless in a statement Sunday said it will pay millions of dollars in refunds to 15 million cell phone customers who were erroneously charged for data sessions or Internet use.
Marshall Field V finalizes fate of his fortune
Marshall Field V, the great-great-grandson of merchandising king Marshall Field, is winding down one of the final vestiges of his public life in Chicago. On Sunday, he announced that he and his wife, Jamee, are closing their family foundation and transferring its assets to a special fund at The Chicago Community Trust.
United-Continental CEO Smisek to get $975K salary
United-Continental CEO Jeff Smisek, center, talks with two employees on Sept. 23, 2010, in Houston. (Tribune)
Airline company United Continental Holdings Inc., formed Friday in the merger of UAL and Continental Airlines, said Chief Executive Jeff Smisek would receive an annual salary of $975,000.
Smisek, who had been CEO of Continental, may also receive 150 percent of his salary as an annual bonus. Pay details were disclosed by the company in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday.
UAL and Continental merged to create the world’s largest carrier by traffic. Get the full story »
Pritzker’s Triton rumored to be up for sale
Triton Container International Ltd., owned by Chicago’s Pritzker family, is up for sale, the latest attempt at selling the container leasing company that could be worth about $1 billion, several sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The auction is the latest in a series of asset sales by the Pritzkers, one of the wealthiest U.S. families. They have been selling assets after a 2001 settlement agreement, in which 11 heirs set a plan to break up the family fortune. Get the full story »
ComEd padding utility bills, court rules
Commonwealth Edison has been padding customer bills to pay for improvements that are properly the utility’s burden, according to a Second District Appellate Court decision that could mean lowered utility bills for consumers.
The decision, handed down Friday, overturns a 2008 decision by the Illinois Commerce Commission that allowed the utility to pass on the costs associated with creating a “smart grid” to consumers, including a recently launched program to test smart meters as part of its “innovation corridor.” Get the full story »
BofA suspends foreclosures, states eye Chase
Amid growing public anger over U.S. home seizures, Bank of America Corp has suspended some of its foreclosures and JPMorgan Chase & Co has come under investigation in California and Connecticut. Get the full story »
Bank investor group seeks to cater to Russian, Eastern European Jews locally
A group of investors wants to invest about $10 million into Maywood-based First Suburban National Bank, and if it’s successful it wants to cater to Russian and Eastern European Jewish customers in the area, according to documents filed with the Federal Reserve. Get the full story »
Microsoft sues Motorola over smart phone patents
Microsoft Corp. said Friday it has sued Motorola Inc., claiming that the Schaumburg-based company has violated nine of its patents with smartphones running Google’s Android operating system.
Microsoft, which is headquartered in Redmond, Wash., filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on Friday. The company said it also filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission. Get the full story »
Ford, Chrysler, GM see September sales gains
Bloomberg News | General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Group LLC and Nissan Motor Co. said U.S. sales rose in September as the industry recovers from its worst year in almost three decades.
Deliveries at GM, the largest U.S. automaker, climbed 11 percent from a year earlier to 173,155, the Detroit-based company said in a statement today. Ford, the second-largest, increased sales 41 percent to 160,873, the Dearborn, Michigan- based company said in a statement. Get the full story »
Autos would get up to 62 mpg under U.S. plan
Automakers would be required to nearly double fleet efficiency to 62 miles per gallon by 2025 under the most ambitious scenario of a U.S. government outlook on fuel economy and emissions released on Friday.
Gasoline and electric hybrid vehicles and electric cars would play a crucial role in meeting the top range targets, according to the preliminary assessment presented to industry as a starting point for developing fuel standards for 2017 cars and light trucks, including SUVs, pickups and vans. Get the full story »
U.S. stocks rise on consumer spending news
Bloomberg | U.S. stocks gained, building on the biggest September rally since 1939, as higher-than-estimated consumer spending and confidence bolstered optimism in the economic recovery. Get the full story »
India granted limited BlackBerry Messenger access
The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone has granted India’s government manual access to its Messenger service and has promised automated access by Jan. 1, enabling authorities to track such messages in real time, the country’s top interior ministry official said Friday. Get the full story »
Illinois venture-capital exits weak in third quarter
More than 110 venture-backed companies nationwide were able to cash out through mergers, acquisitions, buyouts or initial public offerings in the third quarter, though only one of the businesses is based in Illinois.
Google extends ‘Street View’ to Antarctica
From PC Mag | Google on Thursday extended its Street View mapping feature to all seven continents, with the search giant planning to move into Brazil, Antarctica and Ireland.
“We often consider Street View to be the last zoom layer on the map, and a way to show you what a place looks like as if you were there in person — whether you’re checking out a coffee shop across town or planning a vacation across the globe,” Brian McClendon, Google Earth and Maps’ vice president of engineering, wrote in a blog post.
FX, NatGeo off Dish amid haggling over fees
Dish Network’s 14.3 million customers nationwide will have to make do without FX, National Geographic Channel and some other cable channels while the satellite service and News Corp. haggle in the latest corporate struggle over carriage fees.
