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Caterpillar’s machinery sales through dealers accelerated in the trailing three-month period through January, according to data posted on the equipment maker’s website.
Dealer-reported retail sales were up 49 percent worldwide from a year earlier, accelerating from the 44 percent pace reported last month. The increase was led by jumps of 58 percent in North America and 56 percent in Latin America, both marking a sequential increase, according to data on the website. Get the full story »
Chicago’s Giordano’s Enterprises Inc., home of the “world famous” deep-dish pizza, filed for bankruptcy Wednesday.
According to documents served up Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago, Giordano’s sought Chapter 11 protection along with 32 affiliates. In court papers, Giordano’s said it has “an urgent and immediate need for cash to continue to operate.”
Giordano’s, where every pizza “is a slice of heaven,” owes more than $45 million to lender Fifth Third Bank. Get the full story »
A Virgin America Airbus A319 airplane. (Charlotte Southern/Bloomberg)
By Julie Johnsson and Wailin Wong | Virgin America entered the Chicago market Wednesday with typical flair, unveiling a Groupon Deal of the Day that slashed prices on its new West Coast service to $128 round-trip.
The deeply discounted deal was the first air fare to be featured on Chicago-based Groupon and sold out in Chicago in just 8 minutes, said Virgin America spokewoman Abby Lunardini. Within 45 minutes, Virgin’s Groupon offer had sold out in San Francisco and Los Angeles, a total of 2,100 fares in all.
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Honda Motor Co. said Thursday it will recall 693,497 vehicles worldwide due to faulty engine parts.
The Japanese car maker said the recall affects some models of the Fit compact, also known as the Jazz in some markets, the City small car and Freed compact minivan models sold in North America, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. Get the full story »
The Borders at North and Halsted in Chicago will close. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Borders Group Inc. plans to close almost half of its stores in the Chicago area as part of its proposed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to a Wednesday filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.
According to the Borders Web site, the bookseller has about 30 stores in Chicago and its suburbs, including a few Indiana locations.
In Chicago, five of eight stores will close, including the one at North Avenue and Halsted Street, as well as those in Lincoln Park, Uptown, Lincoln Village and Beverly. The Hyde Park store is already in the process of closing and will shut its doors on March 7. This means the only Borders superstore left in the city will be in the Loop. A Borders-owned Waldenbooks in Citicorp Center will also remain open. Get the full story »
French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis SA has agreed to buy Genzyme Corp. with a sweetened $20.1 billion cash offer, plus payments tied to the success of the U.S. biotech group’s drugs, the companies said on Wednesday.
The acquisition, which comes nine months after Sanofi CEO Chris Viehbacher first put the idea to Genzyme’s Henri Termeer, is expected to boost Sanofi’s earnings from the first year after completion by giving it a new platform in rare diseases. Get the full story »
Electronics retailer H.H. Gregg Inc. said it plans to enter the Chicago market for the first time this fall with 20 stores.
The Indianapolis-based company will open stores in Schaumburg, Niles and Vernon Hills, among other locations, according to spokeswoman Sari Martin.
The fast-growing retailer aims to take advantage of big-box real estate left empty in the wake of the recession, moving into stores once occupied by bankrupt retailers Circuit City, Wickes Furniture and Linens ‘n Things. Get the full story »
A Borders at the corner of Pearson and Michigan Ave. in Chicago, which closed in January of 2011. (Heather Charles/Tribune)
Borders Group Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection and said it planned to close nearly one-third of its bookstores, after years of shriveling sales that made it impossible to manage its crushing debt load.
The long-expected Chapter 11 filing will give the second-largest U.S. bookstore chain a chance to fix its finances and shrink its business at a time when buyers are increasingly going online rather than visiting megastores. The bankruptcy could help larger rival Barnes & Noble Inc, which also is struggling, by reducing the number of competing stores. Get the full story »
General Motors Co. is recalling over 44,000 Cadillac CTS sedans over a flaw that could cause one of the rear wheels to become unstable.
The recall affects 2009 and 2010 CTS vehicles, Cadillac’s best seller. Get the full story »
Outside the former Carson Pirie Scott building on State Street. (Heather Charles/Chicago Tribune)
Target Corp. announced on Tuesday long-anticipated plans to open a store in Chicago’s Loop.
The store, called City Target, will lease space in the Sullivan Center at 1 S. State St., which has been empty since Carson Pirie Scott closed its flagship department store in 2007.
Target plans to open the store next year. The urban format, smaller than the typical Target store, will offer fresh food, apartment essentials and clothing. It will mark the Minneapolis-based discount chain’s 10th store in Chicago and create about 200 jobs.
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Starbucks announced Tuesday that it will partner with St. Louis-based Courtesy Products to provide its ground coffee in 500,000 hotel rooms in the U.S. and promised that more single-serve news to come.
The announcement follows rampant speculation as to which partner the Seattle-based coffee giant would select for its push into the single-serve coffee market, following a Chicago Tribune report on Sunday. Get the full story »
The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange says it has agreed to combine with the operator of the Frankfurt stock exchange, Deutsche Boerse.
The deal announced Tuesday will create the world’s largest financial exchange owner. Deutsche Boerse shareholders will own 60 percent of the new company. Shareholders of NYSE Euronext Inc. will own the rest. Get the full story »
The House Budget Committee chairman says Republicans don’t want to see the government shut down in a fight with President Barack Obama over spending priorities.
Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan also tells ABC’s “Good Morning America” the GOP doesn’t want to “rubber stamp” spending policies it opposes just to keep the government running. Get the full story »
Indiana is cranking up its push to lure Illinois businesses in the wake of tax increases here, rolling out a $250,000 marketing campaign that tries to position the Hoosier state as a lower-tax option.
“Feeling Squeezed by Taxes?” is the tagline on a Northwest Indiana campaign launching Monday in Chicago print and electronic media, and it dovetails with a broader Indiana push rolled out late last month, using the tagline, “Illinnoyed by Higher Taxes?” Get the full story »
Attorney General Lisa Madigan said today that she is “strenuously opposed” to state legislation introduced this week that would determine utility rates by formula, joining a strong opposition group that includes AARP Illinois, Citizens Utility Board and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Commonwealth Edison — which is behind the bill — and other state utilities would be able to lock in profit margins above 10 percent under the proposal. The legislation also proposes that rate hikes for consumers, which typically undergo an 11-month regulatory review, could be decided in as little as 45 days. Get the full story »
