A nonprofit watchdog group has released an apples-to-apples price comparison for electricity contracts offered by ComEd and other suppliers in northern Illinois.
The Citizens Utility Board posted the comparison on its website.
Its shows that BlueStar, Champion, Constellation, Direct Energy and Spark offer 12-month fixed-rate contracts with prices lower than Commonwealth Edison’s through at least May of 2011. Get the full story »
From Bloomberg | Sara Lee Corp.’s sale of its insecticide unit to S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. is among the company’s divestments that has required “extra care” from regulators, the European Union’s antitrust chief said Thursday. The bug-killer deal is the latest Sara Lee sell-off to be examined in-depth by the European Commission after the regulator imposed conditions on Unilever’s plan to buy Sara Lee’s shower-gel and European detergents.
From Legal Week | Figures released by international law giant Kirkland & Ellis show that the firm’s revenues rose by 14 percent to $1.63 billion in 2010, while profits per equity partner (PEP) jumped 23 percent to $3.08 million.
China swung to a surprise trade deficit in February of $7.3 billion, its largest in seven years, as the Lunar New Year holiday dealt an unexpectedly sharp blow to exports.
JPMorgan Chase executives discussed downgrading their internal credit rating for Tribune Co. just hours after the media company completed a leveraged buyout the bank helped finance.
E-mails presented in federal court in Wilmington, Del., Wednesday show an executive for the bank thought a downgrade was required after the buyout. Get the full story »
Exelon Corp., the largest U.S. nuclear power plant operator, expects to invest 22 percent more this year, giving an outlook on Wednesday for 2011 capital expenditure of $4.05 billion. Get the full story »
Microsoft Corp said Wednesday it has sold more than 10 million Kinect motion-sensing game system units worldwide in just over four months, making it the fastest-selling consumer device on record. Get the full story »
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed a lawsuit against four ice companies that allegedly agreed not to compete against each other. The suit claims that the four packaged ice manufacturers — Lang Ice Co., Home City Ice, Sisler’s Dairy and Products Inc. and Tinley Ice Company — made deals to divvy up markets, trade customers and share price information in central and northern Illinois. Get the full story »
Forbes has released its list of 2011 billionaires, and there’s one new name on the list from Illinois — Chicago investor Eric Lefkofsky, the cofounder and 30 percent owner of Chicago-based Groupon.
Other billionaires from Illinois include Sam Zell, Penny Pritzker and Patrick Ryan. Get the full story »
A lack of investment in crucial technology systems is to blame for material weaknesses identified last year in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s financial statements, top SEC officials said in testimony prepared for delivery to lawmakers on Thursday.
The weaknesses, identified in a November 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office, were uncovered in the SEC’s information systems and financial reporting and accounting process during an audit of the agency’s fiscal 2010 and 2009 financial statements. Get the full story »
Dov Charney. (Reuters)
American Apparel founder and chief executive Dov Charney is being sued for $250 million by a woman who said he treated her as a sex slave when she was a teenage sales employee at the clothing chain.
Irene Morales of Brooklyn, New York, has accused Charney, 42, of sexual harassment, creating a hostile workplace, gender discrimination and retaliation.
American Apparel and directors at the company have also been named as defendants in the lawsuit, filed in a New York state court on Friday. Morales accused them of failing to protect her, and said they knew or should have known that Charney was a “sexual predator.” Get the full story »
Dynegy Inc. warned it could seek bankruptcy protection if it cannot amend or replace its existing loan facility, the latest twist in the power company’s bumpy effort to restructure itself.
Investors seemed to mostly shrug off the warning, made in a regulatory filing, as the company’s shares fell 1.7 percent. Get the full story »
Residents of Chicago’s Southeast Side descended on the Thompson Center Wednesday morning to urge Gov. Pat Quinn to veto a bill that would pave the way for a coal-to-gas plant to be built in their neighborhood.
The deadline for the governor to sign or veto the legislation is March 14, and he has not said whether he plans to sign the bill, which would require utilities to purchase the synthetic natural gas the $3 billion plant would produce for the next 30 years. Get the full story »
The initial public offering of HCA, the biggest U.S. for-profit hospital chain, is well oversubscribed and could price above the proposed range Wednesday, sources familiar with the situation said.
Although analysts warn of long-term risks related to HCA’s big debt and uncertainties surrounding U.S. health care reform, investor interest in the shares dwarfs the deal’s size, the sources said. Get the full story »
