Chrysler Building Sold to Abu Dhabi; 2,500 Employees Depart From Northwest; Icici Bank on the Prowl; OPEC Revenue to Jump 86%; Steve & Barry's Bankruptcy; Bear Market S&P; Busch to Shareholders: Just Say No; Bank of America Chief Sees Mid-Year Recovery
- New York's Chrysler Building, the an iconic piece of the city's skyline and the world's tallest building until 1931, was bought by an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Tuesday. The Abu Dhabi Investment Council paid Abu Dhabi Investment Council acquired the Chrysler Building from a fund managed by
Prudential Financial Inc. (PRU).
- Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) said yesterday (Wednesday) that it will cut 2,500 jobs because of high oil prices, and start charging $15 to check a single piece of luggage and as much as $100 to redeem a frequent-flier award ticket, the Associated Press reported. The airline hopes the new fees will add $250 million to $300 million a year in revenue.
- Icici Bank Ltd. (ADR: IBN), a leading Indian lender, is considering acquisitions to expand outside its home market, the
International Herald Tribune reported. The bank has about $5 billion cash on hand to spend on an international expansion. Targets could include consumer banks in Britain, Canada or Germany, Sonjoy Chatterjee, the executive director responsible for the bank's international business unit told the Tribune.
- OPEC's earnings from oil exports are expected to reach a record $1.251 trillion this year, about $73 billion more than previously estimated, Reuters reported. Net oil export earnings from OPEC are projected to grow by 86% this year from $671 billion in 2007, before rising 6%in 2009 to $1.322 trillion, the Energy Information Administration said.
- Clothing retailer Steve & Barry's LLC is planning to file for bankruptcy protection, as its low-cost strategy wasn't enough to offset a softening domestic economy, The New York Times reported. The company claimed annual sales of $1.1 billion, but was operating on an extremely thin margin due to its $10 or less pricing.
- Stocks tumbled yesterday (Wednesday) leaving the S&P 500 Index down 20% from its October peak, the definition of a bear market, Reuters reported. The S&P 500 closed down 29.02 points, a decline of over 2%, at 1,244.68.
- Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. (BUD) yesterday (Wednesday) urged shareholders to revoke consent of the InBev NV proposal to replace the board of directors. "We believe that the InBev consent proposals are solely designed to enable InBev to take control of your board in order to facilitate InBev's acquisition of Anheuser-Busch pursuant to a proposal that your board has determined is inadequate and not in the best interests of the company's stockholders," said Anheuser in its filing, The Washington Post reported.
- Speaking in Los Angeles yesterday (Wednesday), Bank of America Corp. (BAC) Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis predicted the U.S. housing crisis would begin to abate mid-2009. "Until then, depending on what sector of the economy you're in, it will feel slow and may feel like a recession," Lewis said, Bloomberg News reported.