In a move reflecting the recovering business of health of airlines, the pilots union for Continental Airlines said Friday that the carrier plans to recall more than 100 furloughed pilots over the next 18 months. Get the full story »
Goldman closing trading desk under reform rules
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is closing its principal strategies desk as it works to comply with new U.S. rules on proprietary trading, Bloomberg News reported Friday.
The report, citing two people with knowledge of the decision, said Goldman would delay announcing the move as 65 to 70 members of the unit sought new jobs. Some traders and support staff could be reassigned in the firm, and a team in Asia could look to start a new hedge fund, it said. Get the full story »
Ulta shares soar 18% on 2Q profit
Shares of Bolingbrook-based Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. soared 18 percent to a 12:30 price of $26.25 Friday as investors reacted to a sweet-smelling quarterly profit report and outlook.
The stock, which has been in relatively steady ascent during the past 18 months, is closing in on its 52-week high of $26.75. Get the full story »
Gas prices expected to fall even more
Gasoline prices have been falling for weeks, and they could go even lower as autumn’s leaves begin to drop.
The national average for a gallon of unleaded regular was $2.681 on Friday, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. That’s 6.6 cents lower than a month ago and 8.5 cents higher than a year ago.
Workers picket Hyatt Regency in Rosemont
Striking workers picket this morning at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Rosemont. (Alex Garcia/Tribune)
Chicago Hyatt Hotel employees, working without a contract since this time last year, walked off the job Friday at the Hyatt Regency near O’Hare airport, protesting cuts in wages and health care benefits.
The move is part of a coordinated pre-Labor Day strike strategy organized by the national Unite Here labor union that kicked off Thursday with strikes at Hyatt Hotels Corp. properties in Honolulu and Los Angeles. Workers in Boston, Indianapolis and Toronto, among other cities, will also be engaged in protest activities Friday, the union said.
Unite Here spokesperson Annemarie Strassel said the national union is in multiple contract negotiations with the big three hotel companies — Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc., Hilton Worldwide and Hyatt. But it chose to target Hyatt because the Chicago-based chain, which is controlled by the wealthy Pritzker family, has posed “the most regressive proposals.” Get the full story »
‘Oprah’ final season to include Book Club pick
The first week of the final season of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” will include a selection for Oprah’s Book Club.
A Harpo spokeswoman said Thursday that Winfrey will announce her 64th and latest pick during a live episode airing on Sept. 17. That would be 14 years to the day that Winfrey announced her first book club selection — Jacquelyn Mitchard’s “The Deep End of the Ocean” — on Sept. 17, 1996.
Abbott abandons plans to sell vaccines business
Drug and medical device firm Abbott Laboratories says it has abandoned plans to sell its vaccines unit, less than three months after exploring sales talks with rival companies. Get the full story »
McDonald’s ranks last in Consumer Reports
A McDonald's double cheeseburger. (Kevin Pang/Tribune)
Oak Brook-based McDonald’s Corp. came in last in a new Consumer Reports rating of fast-food burgers, the magazine said Friday.
Burger King and Wendy’s fared a little better, but the top honors went to smaller regional chains like California’s In-N-Out Burger and Virginia-based Five Guys Burgers and Fries, which has several locations in Chicago. Get the full story »
Unemployment rate climbs to 9.6%
Students seek employment during a U. of I. job fair in Springfield. (AP/Seth Perlman)
The nation’s jobless rate worsened slightly last month, edging up to 9.6 percent from 9.5 percent in July, the government said Friday in a report that had little for workers to cheer about this Labor Day weekend.
Overall, the American economy lost 54,000 net jobs in August, as another 114,000 temporary Census workers were dismissed from the federal government’s payrolls. Get the full story »
Walgreen boosts August sales, expands home infusion
Deerfield-based Walgreen Co. said it ended its fiscal year Aug. 31 with an 8.6 percent gain in during the month to $5.66 billion. That brought the 12-month total to $67.4 billion, a 6.5 percent gain over fiscal 2009.
The company also said it has engineered a swap with elderly-care specialist Omnicare Inc. in which Omnicare will buy Walgreens’ long-term care pharmacy unit while Walgreens will acquire Omnicare’s home-infusion business. Get the full story »
MB Financial shakes up managment ranks
MB Financial, the Chicago-based middle-market bank whose earnings have come up short recently and which has expressed pessimism about the economy, is shaking up its leadership ranks, including in its commercial banking arm, the Tribune has learned. Get the full story »
Sep. 3, 2010 at 6:21 a.m.
Comments Off
Filed under: Critics: Illinois lottery contract cloaked in secrecy
With less than two weeks before Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn awards a lucrative, first-of-its-kind contract for the private management of the state’s $2 billion-a-year lottery, some are criticizing the selection process as too secretive and questioning whether it favors one powerful bidder.
Chicago-area Chick-fil-A opening Sept. 16
Chick-fil-A has planned grand opening activities Sept. 16 for its new restaurant opening in Aurora, its first store in the Chicago-area.
Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A is moving ahead on three other restaurants in the suburbs. Next year, Chick-fil-A is planning to open its first restaurant in the city of Chicago, followed by one or two more by the end of 2011. Ultimately, the company hopes to have 25 restaurants here in five years. Get the full story »
Jamie Dimon slashes price on Gold Coast mansion
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon has slashed the asking price of his 18-room Gold Coast mansion from $9.5 million all the way down to $6.95 million.
The Tribune has learned that the eight-bedroom, 13,500-square-foot mansion now is listed for slightly more than half of Dimon’s original $13.5 million asking price for the home in 2007. Now based in New York, Dimon, 54, paid $4.68 million for the mansion in 2000. Get the full story »
