Late on Friday, Reliant Energy (NYSE:RRI) announced that it had terminated a $300 million retail working capital facility with Merrill Lynch. The company had failed to meet its EBITDA covenant on the agreement in…
In 2006, Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) invested $3.84 billion in capital spending. Last year, the company spent $3.58 billion, and while the figure for this year isn’t final yet, Hess planned to spend about $5…
Playboy Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: PLA) has announced that Christie Hefner is stepping down as Chairman & CEO of the company. Her two-decade reign over the magazine publisher and adult-oriented media and entertainment will come…
Deutsche Bank commented on Chesapeake Energy (CHK) today after the company updated its financial and operational plans, which included a major Capex retrenchment. Deutsche Bank said this is just what the doctor ordered. Deutsche…
What a great way to fire people. Dow Chemical (DOW) chopped 5,000 full-time people and cut 6,000 contractors. Its press release on the plans said the firm was announcing "a series of aggressive actions…
A recession is supposed to pull everyone under, but that everyone does not seem to include McDonald’s (MCD). The fast food firm announced that that global comparable sales increased 7.7% in November. U.S. comparable…
These are some of the top pre-market upgrades and downgrades we have seen from Wall Street analysts this Monday morning: Devon Energy (DVN) Raised to Buy at Jefferies. EnCana (ECA) Raised to Neutral at…
3M (NYSE: MMM) is joining the layoff front. This morning the company previewed a presentation it would give institutional investors detailing cost cutting actions. The company is lowering guidance and announcing layoffs.
The New York Times Company (NYT) will mortgage its building in the hope of getting as much as $225 million to help it through a cash crunch. According to The New York Times, "The…
The Tribune Company may go into Chapter 11 this week. The newspaper industry has several companies headed that way. Journal Register and Gatehouse are at the top of the list. Tribune’s failure says more…
Cutting jobs is one thing. Going out of business is another. As it becomes clear that millions of jobs will be lost by companies which are weak but will probably make it through the…
One of the hallmarks of this recession is that even healthy companies are willing to cut costs and cut them more than once. HP (HPQ) laid off 24,000 people a month ago, ostensibly because…
There are two components to retail sales. The first is the total number of transactions that a business makes. The other is the yield-per-sale. So far this holiday season, total sales have not looked…
The board of Merrill Lynch (MER) is fighting with CEO John Thain over whether he should get a bonus. The board will probably win. It is the board. And, since Merrill has been sold…
Economists, politicians, and the media have spent a number of weeks examining the wrong holiday season. The results for this year are nearly set in stone. For reasons that no one has explained well,…
"Ecce Auto" (Behold the car). With that back of the hand brush off, the 110th US Congress just left the future of the American auto companies to be worked out next year by a…
According to Reuters, the Senate will return to auto bailout talks this week. Reuters reports that Merrill Lynch (MER) CEO Thain is seeking his $10 million bonus. Reuters reports that unsold cars are piling…
Markets in Asia were higher The Nikkei rose 5.2% to 8,329. The Hang Seng was up 8.4% to 15,002. The Shanghai Composite rose 3.6% to 2,091. At the open, the FTSE was up 6.1%…
A day ago came news that McClatchy (MNI) would sell its flagship Miami Herald. The day before, the Rocky Mountain News went on the block and Newsday said it would make additional newsroom cuts.…
It is that time of year where companies should have been evaluating their plans for the year ahead. Each year we come out with a list of companies who should get rid of their…