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Just a few months ago, some analysts were grumbling that Guidant Corp. was selling to Johnson & Johnson for too low a price. Why did Guidant accept $76 a share, they wondered, when on its own the company might be on its way to $80 or even $90? Guidant CEO Ron Dollens’ response: That’s possible, but the medical device field is fraught with risks and uncertainties. Given that, he told IBJ in December, $76 a share, or a total of…
International trade issues abound. There are both long- and short-term stock market implications to these deals, along with political and social effects. China is the overwhelming player in most of the stories, but some closer neighbors are also in the game. A major Chinese oil firm called CNOOC made an offer for Unocal, which was in the process of being bought out by Chevron. The CNOOC offer is higher by a few billion dollars, and it is cash, but there…
There may be a silver lining to the cloud that descended over Indianapolis Motor Speedway at last month’s U.S. Grand Prix: President Tony George has emerged unscathed from a public relations standpoint and has never had more control over the Formula One race his track hosts. Michelin, the French tire maker for the 14 cars that withdrew from the race because of tire-safety concerns, has offered to refund fans’ ticket costs. That’s a $10 million to $12 million expense the…
Purdue University’s most recent step includes opening an office in Indianapolis that will serve as a contact point for minority-owned companies that are interested in doing business with the school. Purdue also is becoming one of the major sponsors of the annual Indiana Black Expo. These two projects are being headed by Jesse Moore, who became Purdue’s manager for supplier diversity development in February. Moore previously led the Indianapolis Black Chamber of Commerce for nine years. Officials say it’s important…
It’s 4 a.m. I’m supposed to be writing by now, knitting you a tale about transformation. But the notions have yet to coalesce. So I lie in bed, watching through my bay window as a storm rolls through, igniting the sky with flashes of light. It’s 4:27 a.m. I awaken again and flip on the TV, the sound muted so as not to disturb my son’s slumber in the next room. The channel I was watching last night now shows…
Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi’s colleagues say relieving jail overcrowding is a question of efficiency. Since jail is meant to be a temporary stop for alleged criminals, they argue, improvements in the process from booking to trial can largely eliminate the need for early release. So why is Brizzi the lone wolf still clamoring to add more jail beds? “Everyone says that you can’t build your way out. How do you know that?” asked Brizzi, a Republican. “We seem to…
The closing of several offices of the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles involves serious issues that are worth attention. Just after the end of the legislative session, the BMV commissioner announced that a few smaller offices would be closed. The number of patrons these offices serve was deemed insufficient to maintain and staff the facilities. In an age of increasing use of electronic transactions, this makes sense. One of these facilities was in Hope, a small Bartholomew County town in…
I enjoy auto racing but must admit Formula One is not my cup of motor oil. On assignment for the local daily, I was at the initial U.S. Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, wrote a less-than-positive column about it, and haven’t been back since. I liked the technology and the spectacle of the passionate, flag-waving fans, but everything else I viewed with disdain. Particularly distasteful was/is the smugness that permeates the F1 atmosphere. It emanates from the series’…
A syndicated morning news show co-owned by locally based Emmis Communications Corp. is making in-roads nationally but has failed to cause a buzz among viewers locally. “The Daily Buzz,” co-owned by Emmis and California-based ACME Communications Inc., and produced in Orlando, Fla., now airs in 137 markets and has shown increased ratings in several critical markets, including Orlando and Tampa, Fla.; Dallas; and Norfolk, Va. “We’re definitely looking to expand our syndication, and we think we’ll be successful because we…
Do a quick check on the emotions and thoughts that just went through you after that first sentence. Good. Here are a few guesses as to what you experienced. First, you went through a quick panic, thinking about how much you have in the market and whether it is enough if the Dow really does hit a new high. Then you had a sense of relief because the stock market is such a massively controlling force on our economy that…
The head of the Central Indiana Small Business Development Center resigned this month following a rift over who might host the agency. Mary Jane Gonzalez, who came on board as executive director of the Central Indiana SBDC in July 2003, left to become director of business development at Mezzetta Construction Inc. Gonzalez’s departure leaves the Central Indiana SBDC, where budding entrepreneurs can seek advice without paying high consulting fees, without a leader for the third time in roughly three years….
The center created by the Legislature to help manufacturers use environmentally friendly materials and production methods is scrambling for cash to keep stamping out solutions. The Indiana Clean Manufacturing Technology & Safe Materials Institute lost its $475,000 annual state subsidy-a little over half its income-amid budget cutting in the last session of the General Assembly. Industry and environmental groups are lamenting the potential scale-back or even closure of the institute if new funding isn’t found by August. “We certainly feel…
I’ve been getting a lot of questions about wireless lately. You know, WiFi, the magical connection between laptop and Internet, the key to actually working at Starbucks? The questions vary from, “Why does my laptop just disconnect sometimes?” to, “How can I get wireless out by the pool?” I tried to scrunch the answers down into a single column, but they kept bulging out of the seams. So I decided to split them into three consecutive columns. I wouldn’t ordinarily…
State lawmakers scored a goal for youth sports this spring when they approved a bill that could save some clubs thousands
of dollars in present or future insurance premiums. Starting July 1, not-for-profits that have employees and pay youth coaches
part time under an independent contractor arrangement will not have to provide Worker’s Compensation benefits for those coaches.
State Sen. Murray Clark, R-Indianapolis, said he had travel teams or clubs in sports like soccer, volleyball or baseball in
mind when…
But much of the evidence is anecdotal, as city officials said they do not have complete complaint records for the periods just before and after the City-County Council imposed tougher regulations in 2002. One key problem addressed by those reforms seems to have diminished-drivers taking passengers to the wrong address. The city received only two such complaints in the last 1-1/2 years, according to records kept by the City Controller’s Office. That had been a commonly reported problem in the…
When Henry Ford installed the world’s first moving assembly line in 1913, he changed the auto industry. Little did he know that nearly a century later, the same tools used to create the production line would pave the way for innovations in health care delivery. First implemented at the Highland Park Ford Plant in Detroit, the assembly line allowed individual workers to remain stationary while performing the same task repeatedly on multiple vehicles. The line proved tremendously efficient, helping Ford…
Anxious to get their unproven enterprise off the ground, Kevin and Danya Mendell offered their first customer a price of $50 to organize a child’s birthday party. That was just three years ago. This year, the Mendells’ Carmel-based company, Oogles n Googles, is expected to reach $1 million in revenue. The venture has been so successful that parents now shell out $325 to let them entertain their offspring, and up to 12 friends, for a few hours. But the firm’s…
An empty retirement home near Methodist Hospital may turn into a lodge that gives cancer patients a place to rest while they receive treatment in Indianapolis. The American Cancer Society is talking with Clarian Health Partners about planting a Hope Lodge on the site of the former Indianapolis Retirement Home, which sits across from Methodist on busy North Capitol Avenue. The cancer society operates 23 of these lodges in several states, but this would be the first Indiana location, according…
Lennox Industries Inc. is giving Indianapolis a vote of confidence as a logistics hub with plans to move distribution of its commercial heating and cooling products from facilities in Chicago and Columbus, Ohio, to the east side of Indianapolis. Although the distribution center is relatively small at 60,000 square feet, Lennox is one of a few companies that have abandoned distribution centers in other cities in favor of Indianapolis’ low cost of real estate, central location and interstate access. Last…
A few weeks ago, my friend John and I treated our three 17-year-olds to a boys’ night out. We started off at Bazbeaux downtown, inhaling guy pizza (read: pepperoni and sausage) and dissecting the big news of the day-Michael Jackson’s acquittal on charges that he shared alcohol, porn and a little night groping with a teen-age boy. Our teen-age boys, news junkies all, then rattled on about kids getting paid to play online video games and the proliferation of “cheats”…
