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29 Jul 2010 11:03

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Biz: Unemployment: Jobless claims numbers improving very, very slowly

  • 11,000 fewer new jobless claims last week than the week before
  • 468,000 the number of new jobless claims last week source

27 Jul 2010 22:28

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Biz: The Old Spice commercials were actually extremely successful

  • 27% the increase in Old Spice’s body-wash sales in the last six months
  • 55% the increase in sales in the last three months (thanks Isaiah Mustafa!)
  • 107% the increase in sales in the last month (thanks viral media blitz!) source

27 Jul 2010 21:10

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Biz: The Chevy Volt: Not cheap, but the lease price isn’t too bad

  • $41k the amount it costs to purchase GM’s hope, the new Chevy Volt
  • $33.5k the amount it costs after the federal tax credit kicks in
  • $350 the amount a monthly lease costs (that’s reasonable!) source
  • » Why GM should be worried: Their electric car is going to compete directly with the Nissan Leaf, which far less in its least expensive configuration, $32,780, or $25,280 after the credit. On the plus side for GM, the leases are nearly the same price – $349 for Nissan vs. $350 for GM.

27 Jul 2010 08:49

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Biz: BP’s quarterly losses huge – hey, just like the oil spill!

  • $17.2 billion the size of BP’s quarterly loss, their first since the oil spill
  • $32.2 billion the size of the pretax charge they took due to the oil spill source

26 Jul 2010 20:22

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Biz: BP drama: Tony Hayward’s heading to Russia – with his pension!

  • $930k the amount he gets from his pension when he quits in October
  • 1 yearthe amount of salary he takes with him, or $1.4 million dollars
  • $15Mthe total value of his pension – plus his life back! source
  • » Plus, there’s more: Hayward also has a sizable amount of stock, and whenever he cashes that out, he’ll be an extremely rich man – he’ll be worth several million.

25 Jul 2010 10:58

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Biz: Tony Hayward’s BP career so far, by the numbers

  • 28 number of years he’s worked with the company; he chose to join BP instead of going into academia
  • 3 number of years he’s served as CEO, a position he said he’d use to focus on “laser-like” safety and reliability
  • 11 men died on his watch during the Gulf Oil Spill, which leaked millions of gallons of oil and he took the heat for source

25 Jul 2010 10:49

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Biz: Is BP’s Tony Hayward ready to get off the hot seat?

While BP is directly denying it, the BBC is reporting that the troubled executive could likely be out of there within the next 24 hours. source
 

24 Jul 2010 17:54

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Biz: Is Coca-Cola’s Vitaminwater really all that good for you?

  • NO in fact, it’s just non-carbonated sugar water source

23 Jul 2010 23:08

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Biz: SEC settlement: Dell pays for pumping up earnings with Intel’s money

  • $4.3 billion the amount Dell reportedly received from Intel from between 2003 and 2007 for using their chips exclusively
  • $100 million the amount Dell has to pay in fines today; the Intel fees are subject of antitrust inquiries source
  • » Don’t forget: This was largely the same era during which Dell knowingly sold millions of computers with 97 percent failure rates. So if you want to talk about business practices which eventually led to lawsuits and SEC settlements, look no further than Dell circa 2005.

23 Jul 2010 22:45

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Biz: Nutritionist’s nightmare: Unhealthy food ads during cartoons stay put

Current federal advertising standards make it OK to advertise cereal and other fairly unhealthy foods during cartoons. Attempts to change this? Stalled. source