It's a real $lick operation:
"Ten things you may have missed Wednesday from the world of business" January 08, 2015
1. Like T-Mobile, AT&T will now let you roll over unused data
AT&T wireless customers who are on a Mobile Share Value plan will soon be able to roll over unused mobile data into their next billing cycle, AT&T said Wednesday. That’s potentially a big boost for some subscribers. The change takes effect Jan. 25 and covers everybody on a Mobile Share Value plan — new and existing customers. The data will only roll over for a month, though, meaning you can’t stack up your unused data from February, March, and April and hope to use it all in May, for example. — Washington Post
Whatsit, some sort of overcharge?
2. Northeast Utilities, sister companies renamed Eversource Energy
Northeast Utilities, the parent company of NStar and Western Massachusetts Electric Co., is changing its name and the names of all affiliates to Eversource Energy, effective Feb. 2. Northeast Utilities operates six major electricity and gas distribution companies in several New England states: Connecticut Light and Power Co., Public Service Co. of New Hampshire, Yankee Gas Services Co., NStar Electric, NStar Gas, and Western Mass. Electric. “Eversource reflects the one-company focus we have been driving for the last few years,” said Tom May, NU’s chief executive. In 2010, Northeast Utilities spent $4.2 billion to buy NStar, which was created by the 1999 merger of BEC Energy and Commonwealth Electric Systems. — Jack Newsham
What's in a name?
3. NStar will return $44.8 million to customers for overcharges
NStar is set to return $44.8 million to Massachusetts ratepayers as part of a settlement with Attorney General Martha Coakley. The settlement combines three long-term overcharges levied by NStar and resolves 11 cases before the Department of Public Utilities. The settlement was filed with that regulator Dec. 31, and needs approval by March 2 to take effect. Refunds will be made via reductions in customers’ electric and gas bills starting in April. About $23.6 million of the total refund stems from a levy to pay employee pensions that NStar said it inadvertently charged double for from 2003 to 2012. — Jack Newsham
This as costs have surged this winter! WTF?
4. Blend Therapeutics raises $21 million to fight cancers
Blend Therapeutics, a Watertown biopharmaceutical startup, said it has raised an additional $21 million and developed a molecule that could deliver anti-cancer drugs to tumors. The company said the new financing, a mixture of equity and debt, would fund further development of its drug-delivery platform, a family of molecules it calls Pentarins. Including its most recent round, the company has raised a total of $39.8 million. — Jack Newsham
5. Boston private equity firm invests in California winery
J.W. Childs Associates is betting on a California winemaker that specializes in high-end pinot noirs. On Wednesday, the Boston private equity firm said it is investing in Kosta Browne Winery of Sebastopol, which is an hour north of San Francisco. The firm did not disclose terms of the deal; Childs bought a controlling stake from a firm that invested $40 million in 2009. Kosta Browne was started in 1997, after cofounders Dan Kosta and Michael Browne saved their tips from restaurant work to buy some grapes and a used barrel. Today the winery puts out 25,000 cases of wine a year in two batches, at $65 a bottle in the spring and $85 a bottle in the fall. — Beth Healy
The elites do love their wine.
6. Keurig, Dr. Pepper team up on home soda business
WATERBURY, Vt. — Keurig Green Mountain Inc. and Dr. Pepper Snapple Group will develop a selection of Dr Pepper Snapple’s brands for the Keurig Cold at-home beverage system. They will come in single-serve capsules for use in Keurig’s soon-to-be released cold drink maker. The companies did not disclose terms of the agreement or specify which brands are included. The soda maker, based in Plano, Texas, sells Sunkist, Snapple, Dr. Pepper, Hawaiian Punch, and other brands. The multiyear deal will make Keurig Green Mountain the exclusive producer in the United States and Canada for the drinks, which will be made from fountain syrup. Keurig Cold, expected in the fall, lets users to make carbonated drinks, sports drinks, teas, juice drinks, and enhanced waters. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
They are challenging SodaStream, the Israeli company losing business because of the actions of its government and its extremists settler population.
7. Nearly 3,700 lose jobs as Wet Seal closes two-thirds of chain
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. — The struggling teen clothing retailer Wet Seal has closed 338 stores, or about two-thirds, resulting in nearly 3,700 full- and part-time workers losing their jobs. The company acted after reviewing its financial condition and failing to negotiate meaningful concessions from landlords. Wet Seal has 13 stores in Massachusetts; eight of them are staying open, including those at Downtown Crossing in Boston, Square One Mall in Saugus, and South Shore Plaza. Stores that did not respond to inquiries include those in Northborough, at the Natick Mall, at Silver City Galleria in Taunton, in Hyannis, and at CambridgeSide Galleria. Wet Seal, founded in 1962, has long been a fixture at malls but has struggled with an identity crisis for years. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
But don't worry, the economy is doing great.
8. McDonald’s apologizes for tooth, plastic in food in Japan
TOKYO — McDonald’s Corp. officials in Japan bowed deeply Wednesday to apologize for a human tooth, pieces of plastic, and other objects found in its food — highlighting how Japanese consumers are both loving and hating the burger chain. A child’s mouth was injured by plastic in an ice cream sundae in December. The fragment had fallen into the dispenser, according to McDonald’s. In another case, a customer who bought a Big Mac meal in August found a tooth in the fries. McDonald’s said none of its employees or its suppliers employees had lost a tooth, and there were no signs the tooth had been fried. The company is investigating. ‘‘To make such cases zero is our goal,’’ said Takehiko Aoki, a senior executive. ‘‘We are doing our utmost to tackle them, one by one.’’ — Associated Press
Just as I was feeling the love.
9. Former Korean Air executive charged in ‘nut rage’ case
SEOUL — South Korean prosecutors on Wednesday charged the former Korean Air Lines executive who achieved worldwide notoriety by kicking a crew member off a flight with violating aviation security law and hindering a government investigation. Cho Hyun-ah, the daughter of the airline’s chairman, ordered a senior crew member off a Dec. 5 flight after being offered macadamia nuts in a bag instead of on a dish. The plane returned to the gate at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. Cho’s actions amounted to ‘‘threatening the safety of the flight and causing confusion in law and order,’’ prosecutor Kim Chang-hee said during a briefing broadcast live on television. — Associated Press
Aren't there more important things going on in North Korea right now, or am I missing something? Now, of course, they have new evidence. "Some skeptics say the new evidence only raises more questions," but the FBI is sure and let's give Clapper a big round of applause:
"Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that the North Korean official who most likely approved the Sony hack was General Kim Yong Chol. Clapper said he dined with Kim during a secret mission to Pyongyang in November to retrieve two Americans being held by the North Koreans. ‘‘General Kim,’’ he said, ‘‘spent the entire meal berating me about American aggression’’ and kept ‘‘pointing his finger at my chest.’’
Oh, yeah, that's proof of guilt.
Next thing you know the war pre$$ will be hollering they have gained the ability to strike the US mainland with a nuclear wea.... pon (yeah, never mind those doubts in the cyber community" and beyond about the US intelligence claims).
Do I look like I'm laughing?
10. Fed sees weaknesses abroad threatening US economy
What? After I was tol.... ferget it!
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve policy makers discussed various risks to the US economy at their December meeting but concluded the big drop in oil prices would probably end up boosting growth. Minutes of the Fed’s Dec. 16-17 meeting, released Wednesday, show that Fed officials believe weakness in the global economy pose some of the biggest downside risks, particularly if it causes turmoil in global financial markets. But overall, they say, the sharp declines in oil prices will be beneficial. — Associated Press
It wasn't yesterday.
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Related: Ten Talking Points for the Kitchen Table
"Optimistic jobs news and a small rise in oil prices pushed markets higher for the first time in the new year. The numbers offered more evidence the US economy is on steady ground, giving investors another reason to jump back in, said one observer. But.... "
Now let me get this straight: you can't say Redskins, but $calping is now legal?
It's enough to make you go global.
"Prices fall and worry escalates in the eurozone" by David Jolly, New York Times January 08, 2015
PARIS — The European Central Bank has another reason to unleash the full force of its stimulus powers. On Wednesday, an official report showed that consumer prices in the eurozone fell 0.2 percent in December from a year earlier.
Related: A New World Power
It's more powerful than armies.
A single month of falling prices does not meet the classical definition of deflation: a widespread, protracted, and self-sustaining decline. That could be even more debilitating than runaway inflation, because it is difficult to reverse.
And the continued collapse of crude oil prices contributed significantly to the decline, blurring somewhat the implications of the report for the 19-country euro currency union.
But because the report was the first to show prices actually turning negative in the eurozone for the first time since the global financial crisis in 2009, it underscored fears that European policy makers might have been underestimating the threat of the sort of long-term stagnation that afflicted Japan two decades ago.
Again?
Economists fear that unemployment could rise if the eurozone succumbs to deflation. When deflation takes root, consumers tend to delay purchases because they expect prices to fall further. Corporate profits sag, and companies are forced to dismiss workers. Deflation also raises the cost of servicing loans in real terms, putting stress on borrowers and their lenders....
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