Father’s Day is Sunday. It also will be my dad’s 75th birthday. I’ve not decided what to give him. I do know what gift he’s giving us. Last year, my dad bought a laptop computer. One day, he sat down and began writing to his grandkids. “This is a long letter to you about one life, lived so far from 1933 to 2008, to acquaint you with what that life was like for the person who lived it,” he began….
Last September, I instructed my retirement plan to purchase two of the very expensive Berkshire Hathaway (A) shares so I could attend the annual meeting of shareholders and participate in the numerous peripheral activities. Actually, I could have purchased just one share of the B stock for much less and still have been entitled to four credentials. Warren Buffett, one of the richest men in the world, and his partner, Charlie Munger, are retail hucksters. They have created the perception…
The Indiana Pacers got an assist recently from other National Basketball Association owners that could push the team out of the red. In April, the league’s board of governors approved a 63-percent increase in the amount of revenue shared among teams after a letter signed by Pacers co-owner Herb Simon and seven other small-market teams urged the change. The revenue challenges faced by smallmarket teams can no longer be ignored, said the letter signed by Simon in late 2006. Though…
Williams Randall Marketing Communications pulled a surprise victory by snatching the $2.5 million Indiana Office of Tourism
Development advertising account away from incumbent Hirons & Co. and eight other bidders, most of which were larger than Williams
Randall. The two-year contract starts July 1.
Imagine driving the car down an interstate highway devoid of tractor trailers. It could dramatically improve traffic flow and safety, but it would sever supply chains and bring manufacturing to a halt-to say nothing of the state’s logistics industry. But how about putting those trucks in their own lanes, separated from cars and light trucks? What seemed merely a fanciful concept for Interstate 70 when highway planners tossed it out about a year ago is gaining momentum. The Indiana Department…
For Dr. Tim Story, frustration was the mother of invention. The Carmel internist didn’t like the cost or complexity of the electronic medical record systems he had seen. So he created his own. And now he’s trying to sell it to other doctors. “I wanted an EMR that I could use, that I could understand,” said Story, 55, who also chairs the largest group of physicians at Clarian North Medical Center. Story is by no means alone. Hundreds of doctors…
National pharmacy chains such as CVS and Walgreens are not the only ones to experience “dumpster-diving” by investigative reporters. These drugstores were merely the first to be featured in media reports about customers’ personal information being disposed of without being destroyed first, a violation of state and federal privacy laws. Diving in Local reporters have since rummaged through the trash of mortgage brokers, title insurance companies, fitness centers, banks, law firms, hospitals and government organizations. While searching through the trash,…
With a cadre of six flat-screen monitors blanketing one side of his desk, Equities First Holdings LLC’s Al Christy Jr. keeps a close eye on the performance of several stocks he’s holding as collateral. No, he’s not some sort of loan shark. He’s what’s known as a stock lender. The unusual premise is that market investors in need of prompt funding transfer shares to Christy who, in turn, lends his clients up to 80 percent of the stock’s value, although…
Optimedia came to Indianapolis 10 years ago primarily to handle media buying and placement for Simon Property Group Inc., which is a client of its sister company, ad agency Publicis. Simon is still Optimedia’s largest client, but the shopping mall developer that once represented all the firm’s business now accounts for less than half. The firm’s shifting client mix wasn’t forced by a drop in business from Simon. In fact, just the opposite is true, said Jay Schemanske, who heads…
They say you should live such a long life that, when you die, you will have no friends left to attend your funeral. Last month, Earl Harris passed away at the age of 90 and he went one better. At his request, he had no funeral at all. The only mark of his passing was a short obituary in The Indianapolis Star undoubtedly paid for by his family as per Starowner Gannett Co.’s policy. Permit me to add a little…
Many of central Indiana’s banks are filling their own safe-deposit boxes, but they’re not stuffing them with jewelry, legal documents or blackmail material. They’re banking parcels of land. The sites often are in fast-growing suburbs or redevelopment areas that hold potential for new brickand-mortar bank branches, sometimes several years down the road. Competition can be fierce for the prime sites, and other financial institutions aren’t the only nemesis for banks: Walgreens and CVS also are fighting over the best ground,…
Preparations are well under way for the U.S. Senior Open at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel. Traffic and parking plans have been determined. They’ve identified the main entrance and the location of merchandise, media and corporate hospitality tents. Speaking of the last item, they’re already approaching a sellout, but tents might be added if demand persists. Tickets have been printed and have gone on sale. The money necessary to put on such an event is being raised. They’ve even…
Numerous format changes late last year caused a major shake-up in the first-quarter survey results of central Indiana’s radio-listening
habits.
The number of blogs operating on the Internet outnumbers the inhabitants of California, New York, Texas and Florida combined. With a market like that, it’s no wonder Chris Baggott and Ali Sales are so excited about the potential of Compendium Blogware, an upstart firm the two formed in January 2007. Baggott is best known for founding, along with co-owner Scott Dorsey, fastgrowing local e-mail marketing firm ExactTarget Inc. in 2000. The company brought in $48 million in revenue last year….
A group of motorsports journalists stood open-mouthed along the wall of the Texas Motor Speedway in 1999 as they watched 19-year-old
Sarah Fisher, fresh from the sprint car and dirt track circuits, zip past veteran open-wheel racers Buddy Lazier and Billy
Boat. What happened to Fisher over the next nine years is equally amazing–and mystifying–to those same motorsports experts
who watched her in Texas.
Imagine a busy local bank that signs several new accounts weekly. With each new customer, the bank receives that person’s Social Security number, home and business addresses, and entire financial history. But what if a computer containing all that personal information-so useful for identity theft-is stolen from the building? Should the company notify its customers of the possible danger or hope the information itself is safe and keep quiet to avoid scandal? To answer those questions, the Indiana General Assembly…
If you’re thinking about selling your company, you’ll get no further than typing your first Google search when the term “private equity” pops up and maybe to a fifth Google search when the term “strategic buyer” appears. Private equity firms seem to be everywhere these days. These funds are growing larger, going public and making (or failing to make) ever larger acquisitions. With the increased visibility, the reputations of private equity firms are still based largely on stereotypes. Think unfair…
There are professions in which you are never noticed until you screw it up-the center of a football team when he snaps the ball over the quarterback’s head, the business assistant when he or she brings the wrong set of papers to the closing, and the bus driver who-after 20 years of safe driving-rear-ends the rock star’s limousine. Included in this list is the CEO of the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Do you remember Joel Silverman, former commissioner of…
Each day, the headlines are filled with r e c e s s i o n – r e l a t e d news. Some predict a pending recession, while others outline pre-emptive actions of the Federal Reserve, Congress and the president. During the 2000-2002 recession, Indiana did not perform well. Indiana lost more jobs than the national average, and its recovery lagged behind the nation’s. In fact, Indiana’s jobs still have not recovered to the pre-recession level. If…
Two airlines that filed bankruptcy this month might cost creditor Indianapolis International Airport $1 million, airport financial records indicate. And high jet fuel prices that helped doom ATA Airlines and sent Frontier Airlines restructuring this month could become a bigger blip on Indianapolis’ radar later, if airline dominoes keep falling. The health of airlines that fly here bears watching because Indianapolis needs to sustain strong revenue streams from airline rents and fees to cover the cost of the $1.2 billion…
