Amazon.com to boost seasonal hiring 40%

Amazon.com Inc. intends to boost its holiday temporary hiring in the United States by 40 percent this year, even as rivals such as Target scale back. Amazon plans to add 70,000 full-time seasonal jobs in its 45 warehouses in the country for the holidays. Last year, when it had 40 warehouses, it hired 50,000 seasonal workers. Seattle-based Amazon said seasonal employees earn, on average, 94 percent of starting wages of its warehouse workers and are eligible for health care benefits. And it added that many of the temporary seasonal jobs have historically led to long-term positions. The seasonal hiring numbers don't include customer-service jobs, which will also increase through the end of the year. As of June 30, Amazon had 97,000 full-time and part-time employees.

Spirit Airlines parent Indigo to buy Frontier

Indigo Partners, the private equity firm led by veteran airline executive William Franke, agreed to buy Republic Airways Holdings Inc.'s Frontier Airlines for $36 million in cash. The total value of the transaction is $145 million including debt, the companies said. Republic, which operates regional flights for larger carriers, decided to shed Frontier in November 2011, two years after buying the company to bring it out of bankruptcy. Republic earlier began work to transform Frontier into an ultra-low-cost carrier, which offers low base fares and adds fees for anything else. That work will continue under Franke, who was named chairman of Spirit Airlines Inc. when Indigo gained majority control of that ultralow cost carrier in 2006.

Icahn pushing Apple for bigger share buyback

Carl Icahn, who disclosed a $1 billion stake in Apple Inc. in August, said he had dinner with Chief Executive Tim Cook and "pushed hard" for a $150 billion share buyback. Talks will continue in about three weeks, said Icahn, the billionaire activist investor who has made a career of urging companies to adopt changes to boost the value of shareholdings. While Cook announced a plan this year for a total of $100 billion in dividends and share repurchases, Icahn wants Apple to allocate $150 billion more for buybacks.

Report: Home prices rising across country

Home-price growth accelerated to the fastest pace in more than seven years, showing gains across the country, according to a report. Home prices, including distressed sales, rose about 0.9 percent in August and were up 12.4 percent from a year earlier, the highest annual rate since February 2006, according to CoreLogic, an Irvine, Calif.-based analysis firm. Excluding short sales and other distressed properties, prices rose 1 percent in August, and were up 11.2 percent from the year-earlier period, also hitting the fastest annual pace since February 2006.

Empire State Building owner goes public

Empire State Realty Trust Inc., whose properties include Manhattan's Empire State Building, raised $929.5 million in its initial public offering, pricing the shares at the low end of the range. The real estate investment trust, based in New York, sold 71.5 million shares for $13 each, excluding the overallotment option, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It offered them for $13 to $15. The shares will start trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ESRT.

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