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02 Nov 2009 22:04

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Biz: Black & Decker, Stanley mix their tools in same toolbox

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  • We’re sorry for all the dirty jokes we’ve made lately, but they’re WAY too easy to make. Anyway, Stanley plans to buy Black & Decker in an all-stock deal for $3.5 billion. They’ve been trying to share the same tool belt for a while now, but they only pulled it off today. We’re going to stop writing now, just so we can avoid making another tool pun.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Nov 2009 11:20

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Biz: An 80-year-old man gets the internet better than Newsday does

  • My column has been popular around the country, but now it was really going to be impossible for people outside Long Island to read it.
  • 80-year-old former Newsday columnist (and lifelong newsman) Saul Friedman • On his reasons for suspending his popular “Gray Matters” column for the newspaper. They all have to do with Cablevision’s decision to start charging $5 a week for non-subscribers to read the paper online. Friedman’s column wouldn’t be able to reach outside of its Long Island home base as a result, despite the fact the column has a national audience. Friedman himself lives in the D.C. area, so he would have to pay, too. Where does Friedman go next? The blog “Time Goes By,” which seems like a much better place for an 80-year-old guy who understands the internet better than a cable company. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Nov 2009 09:27

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Biz: A year and some clunker sales make Ford huge profits

  • $997 million the size of Ford’s profits in the third quarter, largely helped by Cash for Clunker sales source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Nov 2009 21:36

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Biz: Who takes the second worst of the bankrupt CIT? Small businesses.

  • In the best of times you would have seen a situation where other lenders would certainly have been willing to consider getting into this business. In the current environment, given the constraints on credit generally, there’s not enough capacity out there.
  • Pryor Cashman bankruptcy group law partner Mark Jacobs • Discussing the shape of the market that CIT specializes in. The company, which is well-known for lending to small businesses, already dried up much of its lending due to the credit crunch and the company’s own financial woes. While the CIT says it will continue operating normally as it works its way through Chapter 11, businesses concerned about dealing with a bankrupt company have few other places to turn. In other words, a company that few people have heard of has huge amounts of power over businesses you go to every day. And that company just went bankrupt. Oh CIT. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Nov 2009 21:23

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Biz, U.S.: Who probably takes the worst of the bankrupt CIT? Taxpayers.

  • $2.3 billion in CIT TARP funds, gone like the wind? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Nov 2009 21:16

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Biz: Holy CIT! A massive lender files an equally massive bankruptcy

  • $71 billion the amount in assets CIT Group had when it filed today; it’s the fifth-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Nov 2009 10:43

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Biz, Tech: Nintendo needs to do a lot to save its hide quickly

  • We sensed that the market mood was cooling off in the spring. But frankly, we hadn’t expected to get as bad as it did by summer.
  • Nintendo President Satoru Iwata • Describing the quick decline in sales of the Nintendo Wii this year. Despite the company’s cut in price on the Wii, it kind of made things worse this quarter: Profits dipped 52%, while sales slid 28%. Nintendo’s working hard to make some changes to help improve profits – new Mario and Zelda games are coming soon, and the company could make changes to the platform to enable (on the Wii’s end) Blu-Ray discs and (on the DS’ end) 3G and social networking. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink
 

31 Oct 2009 16:02

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Biz: Some lady’s loud, annoying kid forces Southwest Airlines to apologize

  • It is extremely rare for any situation to escalate to the point where we ask a customer to leave a flight. This was an isolated incident where our flight attendants felt it was the right thing to do.
  • Southwest Airlines representative Chris Mainz • On a highly-buzzed incident where Pamela Root was removed from a flight with her two-year-old son, Adam, because the kid was too freaking loud and whiny. Some would applaud the airline for doing that, but it left Root in a crappy situation, because her checked luggage was still on the fight, meaning she had no diapers or way to take care of the kid. We have sympathy for Root AND Southwest Airlines. It was a tough situation. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Oct 2009 09:36

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Biz: Bank Failure Friday continues to live up to its name

  • nine more banks failed this Friday, including CalNational, the fourth-largest to fail this year source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Oct 2009 21:18

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Biz: Despite touching 10,000 the Dow Jones was flat for the month

  • 9,712.28 the closing price on the Dow September 28; it’s had many ups and downs since then source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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