Oil prices rose on Monday, snapping a four-day slump and lifted by a rallying equities market expecting the U.S. Federal Reserve to keep its policies steady at a meeting this week and bouncing after crude prices slumped 3.7 percent last week. Get the full story »
Sep. 20, 2010 at 10:42 a.m.
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Filed under: Personnel moves, Technology, Telecommunications, Updated, Wireless Verizon names McAdam COO, likely next CEO
Lowell C. McAdam. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Verizon Communications said on Monday it named Lowell McAdam its president and chief operating officer, setting the veteran executive up as the successor to Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg.
McAdam, currently chief executive of Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon and Vodafone Group Plc, will take up his new role October 1. Get the full story »
Economic panel says recession ended in June 2009
Michigan residents at a job fair in Southfield, Mich., Aug. 25, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
The Great Recession ended in June 2009, according to the body charged with dating when economic downturns begin and end. But the news comes amid rising fears of a double-dip recession.
The National Bureau of Economic Research, an independent group of economists, released a statement Monday saying economic data now clearly points to the economy turning higher last summer. That makes the 18-month recession that started in December 2007 the longest and deepest downturn for the U.S. economy since the Great Depression. Get the full story »
Booth, other B-Schools get cozier with consultants
From PoetsandQuants.com | Admissions consultants have become a permanent part of the business school landscape, with the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and many other B-Schools now welcoming for-hire admissions consultants. The trend is a marked change from when B-School officials spoke out against the use of consultants, and some schools explicitly forbade applicants from hiring them.
Seasonal hiring could improve, but still lower
Though retail sales gains have improved, don’t expect holiday seasonal hiring to reach “pre-recession levels,” a new report indicates.
Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., said retailers, thanks to two consecutive months of sales gains, “could portend stronger seasonal hiring in 2010,” the Chicago-based outplacement consulting firm said today. Get the full story »
Discover profit falls due to year-ago settlement
Credit card company Discover Financial Inc. says third-quarter net income fell, but profits in the year-earlier period received a big boost from a lawsuit settlement.
Net income was $258.2 million, or 47 cents cents per share. That compares with $552.9 million, or $1.07 per share, last year, which included a $287 million settlement of antitrust litigation involving Visa and MasterCard. Get the full story »
General Growth to pay Hughes heirs $230M
General Growth Properties Inc. says it will pay $230 million to some of the heirs of moviemaker and aviation mogul Howard Hughes to settle a dispute over a Las Vegas development. Get the full story »
China state automaker may be eyeing GM stake
Chinese automaker and General Motors Co. partner SAIC said Monday it is paying close attention to GM’s upcoming stock sale, but gave no hint over whether it plans to take a stake itself.
GM executives in the U.S. and China likewise refused comment on reports that the automaker is in talks with its state-owned joint venture partner SAIC about buying a stake in the Detroit company through its initial public offering. Get the full story »
Blown-out BP well is declared dead
The site of the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. (HO/AFP/Getty Images)
With an an injection of cement 18,000 feet below the ocean’s surface, the BP well in the Gulf of Mexico was declared dead after nearly five months of heartache, misery and worry.
The news was “real good,” said Canty, a 31-year-old shrimper, but it wasn’t likely to change his life immediately. His shrimp boat is still contracted out indefinitely to BP, he said, and for the time being, he expects to remain among the 25,200 people hired to finish cleaning up the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Get the full story »
Sep. 17, 2010 at 5:38 p.m.
Filed under: Bankruptcy, Litigation, Media, Newspapers, Radio, TV, Updated Two Tribune creditors file own reorganization plan
Two of the largest senior creditors in Tribune Co.’s bankruptcy case filed a plan of reorganization in Delaware bankruptcy court Friday, providing an alternative solution to the management plan that has been in place since earlier this year.
The move makes allies out of two distressed debt hedge funds, Angelo, Gordon & Co. and Oaktree Capital Management, that had until recently been at odds with each other. And it comes in advance of a court-ordered mediation that is scheduled to begin Sept. 26. Get the full story »
Obama chooses Warren to launch consumer bureau
President Barack Obama and Elizabeth Warren on Sept. 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren, appointed Friday to launch the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, likely won’t be the agency’s first official director, but she will have a major say in who gets the powerful job.
Warren also will have a broader portfolio of duties, advising President Obama on “policies and programs that are designed to protect the financial interests of middle-class families,” the White House said.
Tighter rules for market makers post-’flash crash’
U.S. stock exchanges proposed tighter rules for stock “market makers” Friday meant to ensure they provide more useful liquidity in stressful times such as the May “flash crash.” Get the full story »
William Blair sued over parking meter privatization
From Bloomberg | A Chicago resident claims investment firm William Blair & Co. failed to properly assess the value of a $1.15 billion, 75-year parking meter privatization contract for the city. She is suing the firm, seeking group status on behalf of the city’s 2.8 million residents.
Pepperidge Farm to cut sodium in breads
Pepperidge Farm Inc. says it will cut the sodium levels in the majority its breads, rolls and bagels by 2011, making it the latest of many food makers to respond to demands for healthier products. A number of food makers have announced recently that they are lowering sodium in their products based on consumer demand and increasing scrutiny by health groups, including Kraft Foods, Bumble Bee Foods, General Mills Inc., and PepsiCo Inc.
More US banks skip latest payment on bailout aid
More than 100 U.S. banks failed to pay an Aug. 16 dividend on bailout money they borrowed from the U.S. government, signaling that the number of banks struggling to meet obligations under the program is rising. Get the full story »
