George S. May Business Blog

Ian Smith ousted from Reed Elsevier — No hard feelings though..right?

gsmwriter — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:14:15 PST

Well that didn’t last very long. At least there is no “disagreement” about the change…Well, according to current Chairman Anthony Habgood. AMSTERDAM (Dow Jones)–Ian Smith, chief executive of Reed Elsevier PLC (REL.LN), resigned unexpectedly Wednesday after only eight months in the job, but the Anglo-Dutch publishing group’s chairman said the move doesn’t herald a pending strategic [...]

Hey kids! It’s Turnover Tuesday! — EA hires and fires a huge amount of people in one day

gsmwriter — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:49:18 PST

Here is something you don’t hear about everyday. An immense and immediate staff turnover. Electronic Arts was quite busy today as it acquired social media game company Playfish for $275 million, plus bonuses (should the staff perform well), and fired 1,500 of its own employees. Quite an interesting move if you ask me. Not only is it [...]

GM Europe — Nick Reilly in, Carl-Peter Forster OUT!

gsmwriter — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:33:17 PST

As expected, Carl-Peter Forster of General Motors, will be stepping down from his position of CEO of GM Europe. His replacement, Nick Reilly, will assume the responsibilities for the operation of Vauxhall and Opel Europe. But, GM made it fairly evident that Mr. Reilly will not be running the position for the long haul. Reilly [...]

Cadillac confirms production of the Converj

gsmwriter — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:21:54 PST

The Detroit News reports that GM has confirmed plans for production of a new Cadillac hybrid, the Converj. This doesn’t come as too much of a surprise, whenever GM puts a bunch of money into a new product (i.e. the Chevy Volt) they usually follow it up with a Cadillac version. Cost? No details as of yet, [...]

Social networking site Tagged.com slapped with a HUGE fine

gsmwriter — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:59:29 PST

Cuomo strikes again! Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has been on an absolute roll as of late. His latest accomplishment, smacking website www.tagged.com with a three-quarter million dollar fine for illegally taking peoples email addresses and using them to send out more solicitation emails. We salute you Mr. Cuomo, nice work. Huffington Post : NEW YORK — The social [...]

Comcast / General Electric / NBC deal looks to be a lock

gsmwriter — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:51:30 PST

Comcast may be as little as a week away from buying out a controlling stake in NBC Universal from General Electric. Comcast would take a 51% stake creating a $30 billion joint venture. The deal does also hinge upon part owner Vivendi agreeing to sell its 20% stake in NBC Universal back to GE. The NBC [...]

Shell settles environmental case for $19.5 million

gsmwriter — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:24:59 PST

In a settlement filed in the Alameda County Superior Court of California, Shell Oil Co. has agreed to pay out $19.5 million to settle claims that the company violated state environmental laws. Shell is also required to improve its storage and monitoring of possible fuel leaks. Attorney General Jerry Brown: “Shell Oil Company disregarded the state’s underground [...]

Scripps Network will buy Travel Channel

gsmwriter — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:42:20 PST

Scripps Networks has agreed to buy the Travel Channel from Cox Communications in a deal worth $975 million. It will be a joint venture between Scripps and Cox where Scripps will take 65% and Cox the remaining 35%. Scripps will kick in $181 million in cash, and pay for the rest with debt. The venture will have [...]

7-Eleven will sell proprietary wine

gsmwriter — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:29:45 PST

Trader Joe’s and two-buck Chuck – watch out, there’s a new competitor in town. AP – The convenience store chain announced Tuesday it is getting into the value wine business, releasing two low-priced proprietary wines in the United States and Japan. Sold under the Yosemite Road label, the California wines, a chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon, will retail [...]

Ford think ‘outside the box’ with inflatable seat belts

gsmwriter — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:13:35 PST

My biggest knock on Ford has been their inability to be innovative. It seems that somewhere in the last 20 years the American automaker fell behind and has never been able to catch up. Today, however, Ford will take a step to remove that stigma. Ford will be rolling out inflatable seat belts. Starting with [...]

Homebuyer Tax Credit will be extended

gsmwriter — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:12:32 PST

Breathe easy realtors. Have a seat home buyers. As we anticipated last week, the Senate expanded, and extended for that matter, the homebuyer tax credit. Well, the House is yet to vote (that will take place today) but seeing as though the House is always far easier to getting things by than the Senate, we [...]

SEC smacks JPMorgan Chase with $700 million fine

gsmwriter — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:58:45 PST

My, oh my, this is quite a large fine. I wonder though, should JPMorgan fail to pay the fine on time, will the SEC hit them with a late fee? Or what if JPMorgan can’t pay it? Another bailout? From the Huffington Post: WASHINGTON — JPMorgan Chase & Co. has agreed to a settlement worth more than [...]

GM jumps ship on Opel deal — German government not happy, to say the least

gsmwriter — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:40:28 PST

For the past few months, General Motors has been in negotiations with supplier Magna and its partner Sberbank over plans to sell its Opel unit. Surprisingly, news came yesterday that General Motors, after all the time spent working out the sale, will not be selling Opel. GM noted that its new board of directors came [...]

Regulators seize nine U.S. banks

gsmwriter — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:53:46 PST

Banking regulators seized another nine related community lenders over the weekend. The banks were in California, Illinois, Arizona and Texas and represented, essentially, all of the holdings of FBOP Corp. FBOP, according to WSJ, was “owned by a banker who had plowed into real-estate lending around the country”. U.S. Bancorp, the large Minneapolis-based regional bank, agreed to assume [...]

Denbury will buy Encore Acquisition

gsmwriter — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:44:12 PST

Denbury Resources Inc has agreed to buy Encore Acquisition Co for $4.5 billion. The deal, expected to close the first quarter of next year, will jolt Denbury into one of N. America’s largest oil production and exploration companies. JPMorgan Chase served as Denbury’s banker in the negotiations. Encore shareholders will be paid $50 per share, which [...]

UAW shoots down new contract with Ford

gsmwriter — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:24:06 PST

Although the Canadian Auto Workers union may have been able to reach a new agreement with Ford, their neighbors to the south weren’t as happy with the proposed agreement. Up for approval was an agreement that mirrored that of the one offered to, and agreed upon by, the unionized autoworkers of Chrysler and GM during their [...]

Ford rakes in nearly $1 billion in Q3

gsmwriter — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:40:55 PST

Much to the surprise of many, Ford posted some very nice numbers in their third quarter report. In terms of net income, Ford put up $997 million over third quarter, marking the automakers first operating profit in over a year. Ford ended the third quarter $2.8 billion better than the second quarter, finishing with $23.8 billion. [...]

Royal Dutch Shell cuts jobs amidst a disastrous Q3

gsmwriter — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:10:02 PDT

Yesterday Royal Dutch Shell announced an abysmal 73% drop in profits for the third-quarter. Shell then followed up the unfortunate news with some more unfortunate news — job cuts; 5,000 to be exact. Details below: Royal Dutch Shell plans to cut 5,000 jobs as part of cost-cutting to mitigate the impact of the falling oil price. Shell [...]

Timothy Geithner reveals tax credit plan in Chicago

gsmwriter — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:56:29 PDT

(AP) — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is in Chicago to announce plans for $5 billion in investment for struggling communities nationwide. He’s scheduled to tour a job training on the city’s West Side with Mayor Richard Daley. After that, Geithner is expected to announce that three Chicago-area institutions will receive awards under the New Markets Tax Credit [...]

CIT $1 billion from Carl Icahn, Icahn Capital LP

gsmwriter — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:29:35 PDT

As a part of their restructuring plan, CIT has entered an agreement with Carl Icahn to secure a $1 billion line of credit from Icahn Capital LP to provide themselves with supplemental liquidity as they go through with the plan. Icahn Capital has given CIT up until the new year to draw the new line of [...]

GDP rises in the 3rd Quarter — Is our recession ending?

gsmwriter — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:04:59 PDT

The numbers are in, in reference to the impact of the economic stimulus. Pretty promising if you ask me. “The U.S. economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter, unofficially marking the end of the worst recession since World War II. The growth reported today by the Commerce Department for the three [...]

Wall Street Journal’s Boston Bureau to close for good

gsmwriter — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:41:04 PDT

Reporters at the Boston location of the Wall Street Journal recieved some very unfortunate news in an email today from their editor Robert Thompson: “Colleagues, Today we told our team in Boston that we are closing the bureau in its present form. The economic background to the closure is painfully obvious to us all. An investigative function [...]

Ford Motor Co: Geely is the leading bidder

gsmwriter — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:28:03 PDT

In a press release from Ford Motor Co., the world’s fourth-largest automaker announced that Geely has emerged as a front runner. Ford has had Volvo on the market for some time now, beginning last year when it began to unravel its global empire. Aston Martin went to Kuwaiti financiers, Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata (India), [...]

When the pursuit of retail domination goes too far – Walmart will now sell caskets

gsmwriter — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:02:56 PDT

This is no spoof. Walmart really is going to begin selling discount caskets. From the Huffingon Post: “Beginning at $999 for lower-end models, all 27 caskets in the Walmart online inventory cost less than $2,000, except the “Sienna Bronze Casket,” which sells for $3,199. The caskets come from Star Legacy Funeral Network, Inc., of McHenry, Ill., and [...]

Colorado residents get a HUGE tax break on “green” cars”

gsmwriter — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:44:37 PDT

Green-conscious Colorado residents have been presented with a pretty nice opportunity to save tax money. A new tax break in Colorado will give state residents a credit on their 2009 income taxes for up to 85% of the difference between the cost of an alternative fuel or hybrid vehicle and a comparable one that runs on [...]