Business News
Detroit Free Press (Michigan) (February 3, 2012)
SAN FRANCISCO -- For all the huge numbers in Facebook's IPO papers, a surprisingly small figure stands out: $4.39, the amount the site generated per user last year.
The Philadelphia Inquirer (February 3, 2012)
Sunoco Inc. chief executive officer Lynn L. Elsenhans will step down March 1, marking the end of the Philadelphia oil company's tumultuous four-year makeover from a manufacturer into a pared-down retailer and transporter of fuel. Elsenhans, 55, will be replaced by chief financial officer Brian P. MacDonald as part of a sweeping package of initiatives announced after markets closed Thursday. The changes were started in September, when the company announced plans to exit the unprofitable...
The Philadelphia Inquirer (February 3, 2012)
Drugmaker AstraZeneca P.L.C. said Thursday that it would cut 7,300 more jobs worldwide because of declining fourth-quarter profit and 2012 revenue prospects. The company, based in London, plans to eliminate 12 percent of its workforce. There could be several hundred jobs lost in Wilmington and Newark, Del., a spokesman said. Following up on a March 2010 decision to curtail neuroscience research, the company will close its Montreal research facility and slice that work from its largest site...
The New York Times (February 3, 2012)
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND -- Sand dunes rise above a windy, desolate stretch of beach, miles beyond where most tourists venture. Occasional flocks of brown pelicans are visible, arcing through the sky above the water. ''I love watching them fly,'' said Sonny Perez, manager of the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, which includes some of the remote northern reaches of South Padre. ''They're like little bombardiers going across.'' In the coming years, the 97,000-acre refuge could add more land on...
The New York Times (February 3, 2012)
Stock indexes ended little changed ahead of Friday's monthly employment report, but technology shares rose after strong earnings from the chip maker Qualcomm. Recent economic data suggesting the economy is on a slow but steady path to recovery has helped feed a rally in stocks. The jobs report on Friday, which is expected to show the improving labor market trend remained intact in January, will be a crucial test of the rally.
Chicago Tribune (February 3, 2012)
Sara Lee Corp., the Downers Grove-based maker of Ball Park hot dogs and Jimmy Dean sausage, reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings Thursday, standing by its full-year forecast despite soaring commodity costs, a weaker euro and declining volume sales on both side of its business.
Charlotte Observer (North Carolina) (February 3, 2012)
Local business leaders on Thursday unveiled a new partnership between minority-owned businesses and large corporate sponsors that's meant to spur job creation and economic growth across the Charlotte region.
The Boston Globe (February 3, 2012)
NEW YORK - The New York Stock Exchange and German exchange Deutsche Boerse called off their planned merger yesterday, a day after the European Union said it would block the union because of concerns about a monopoly.
The Boston Globe (February 3, 2012)
Boston Scientific Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings plunged 55 percent, as the medical device maker saw declining sales in two of its biggest businesses, interventional cardiology and cardiac rhythm management. The Natick company said sales fell 15 percent to $482 million in cardiac rhythm management, which includes pacemakers and surgically implanted defibrillators. Revenue dropped 7 percent to $594 million in interventional cardiology, which includes drug-coated stents. Boston Scientific said...
The Boston Globe (February 3, 2012)
NEW DELHI - Amazon.com Inc. started an online shopping service in India to profit from the world's second most populous nation as it waits for the country's retail regulations to loosen.
The Detroit News (Michigan) (February 2, 2012)
By Daniel Howes The latest Italian phrase for "industrial wingman" is spelled Chrysler Group LLC. Nearly five years after Daimler AG dumped the Auburn Hills automaker because it was a middle American mediocrity single-handedly destroying the august German automaker's financials, the purported loser is now the profit engine driving Sergio Marchionne's transnational experiment. Literally. How much of the profit booked by Fiat SpA, which owns 58.5 percent of Chrysler, is attributable to the...
The San Diego Union-Tribune (February 2, 2012)
Qualcomm reported revenue and earnings Wednesday for its fiscal first quarter that surpassed expectations, thanks to continued strong demand worldwide for smartphones. The San Diego wireless giant boosted its sales and earnings forecast for the year after the strong first quarter, signaling that it expects continued growth.
The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) (February 2, 2012)
Explosive growth in China continues to rachet up expectations for Yum! Brands to post double-digit increases in fourth-quarter earnings when it reports Monday.
The Baltimore Sun (February 2, 2012)
With half-moon-shaped booths and wooden blinds, patrons might expect to pay $8 for a burger or $4 for a smoothie. But the decor isn't a harbinger of price. This is the new look of a remodeled McDonald's.
USA TODAY (February 2, 2012)
Investors wanting to get in on the Facebook IPO might soon find out what it feels like to get "unfriended." When it comes to the initial public offering of Facebook, the world's largest social network, there's ironically very little for the masses. Facebook's IPO, as with most IPOs, will only be sold at the offering price to privileged investors. Most regular investors who want a piece of the company will have to wait until the shares start to trade on the stock market, possibly at a price much...
USA TODAY (February 2, 2012)
Sony is turning to a new CEO to help the company reinvigorate its TV and electronics business. Kazuo Hirai, who currently heads the company's consumer electronics business, will replace current CEO and President Howard Stringer on April 1. Stringer, who will succeed current chairman of the board Yotaro Kobayashi, has been grooming Hirai for the post. His experience running Sony's successful PlayStation business gives Hirai a formidable skill set for the challenges facing the company. By...
USA TODAY (February 2, 2012)
Sales of new vehicles in January smashed through even optimistic forecasts, but Detroit's two biggest automakers were well off the industry pace. Automakers combined sold 11.4% more new vehicles than they did a year earlier, according to tally master Autodata.
USA TODAY (February 2, 2012)
The sizzling rate at which e-books are growing suggests that digital textbooks almost certainly will be the norm when your kids' kids are in school. What we don't know is how quickly a transition to a mostly all-digital textbook education system might happen, how it could affect the way students learn, and which companies will be leading the charge. Two weeks ago, Apple declared its intention to be at the head of the class, with the unveiling of the iBooks 2 for iPad app and the iBooks...
The New York Times (February 2, 2012)
SAN FRANCISCO -- It's not about the money. Really. That's what the billionaire Mark Zuckerberg says. As investors scramble to get a piece of Facebook ahead of its initial offering, Mr. Zuckerberg wants to paint a portrait of a company with goals far loftier than the moneymakers on Wall Street -- and certainly loftier than most mere businesses. ''Facebook was not originally created to be a company,'' he wrote in a letter to potential investors that was part of Facebook's filing on Wednesday....
The New York Times (February 2, 2012)
LONDON -- An e-mail to Rupert Murdoch's son James that referred to ''a nightmare scenario'' of legal repercussions from widespread phone hacking at the News of the World tabloid was deleted from his computer less than two weeks before the police opened their current investigation into phone hacking, lawyers said Wednesday. The deletion was part of an ''e-mail stabilization and modernization program'' in which accounts were ''being prepared for the migration to a new e-mail system,'' said...
The New York Times (February 2, 2012)
The drug maker Pfizer said Wednesday that it was recalling packets of birth control pills because some had been packaged incorrectly, potentially causing women to take an inadequate dose and possibly become pregnant.
The New York Times (February 2, 2012)
AOL reported a quarterly profit Wednesday that beat Wall Street expectations after an increase in display advertising revenue overshadowed a decline at its Internet dial-up business. Net income declined to $22.8 million in the fourth quarter, or 23 cents a share, compared with $66.2 million, or 60 cents a share, in the period a year ago. Analysts on average had expected AOL to post a profit of 16 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.
The New York Times (February 2, 2012)
NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Borse said on Wednesday that they were in talks to call off their planned merger, after European antitrust regulators formally opposed the deal. Both exchanges said they fundamentally disagreed with concessions that the European Commission had requested, notably the divestiture of major parts of the combined company's business. ''This is a black day for Europe and for its future competitiveness on global financial markets,'' Deutsche Borse's board said in a statement....
The New York Times (February 2, 2012)
Stocks extended a January rally on Wednesday after upbeat global manufacturing data helped sentiment. In addition, Greece was nearing a long-delayed deal with private creditors. The recent run of better-than-expected economic data around the world, though still not suggesting a booming expansion, has helped lift equity markets.
The New York Times (February 2, 2012)
DETROIT -- The comeback from bankruptcy at Chrysler hit a milestone Wednesday when the smallest of the Detroit automakers reported a $183 million profit for last year, its first full year of positive earnings since 2005. But the challenge for Chrysler, which has a history of near-death experiences, has always been sustaining its turnarounds. Too often in the past, the company has rebounded with hot new products, only to falter when it tried to accelerate its growth. Chrysler's chief executive,...
