BNAT081807
On the homepage
Supreme Court
Out There
Roadguy
Brett Favre
National news in brief
Print this story
E-mail this story
Save to del.icio.us
Share on Facebook
Share on Digg
Minnesota business by the numbers
See Minnesota's top earning companies, CEOs and non-profits
More from Business
national news in brief
Toys 'R' Us pulls vinyl bibs off shelves
Toys "R" Us Inc. said it was removing all vinyl baby bibs from its Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us stores as a precaution after two bibs made in China for one supplier showed lead levels that exceeded company standards. Toys "R" Us, which operates more than 1,500 stores, said the result came in testing this month of bibs supplied by Hamco Inc. and marketed under the Koala Baby, Especially for Baby and Disney Baby labels. Tests of Hamco bibs in May were within standards, Toys "R" Us said.
Buffett owns 12 percent of BNSF shares
Legendary investor Warren Buffett's company bought 1.4 million more shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. this week to gain control of nearly 12 percent of the nation's No. 2 railroad. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. revealed its two latest railroad stock purchases in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Both classes of Berkshire's stock gained more than 4 percent Friday to set 52-week highs. Berkshire Class A shares, which are the most expensive U.S. stock, gained $4,750, or 4.2 percent, to close at $118,500.
Brocade's former CFO faces civil charges
The former chief financial officer of Brocade Communications Systems Inc. was charged with eight counts of civil securities fraud for allegedly ignoring that the company was improperly accounting for backdated stock option awards. The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Michael Byrd, 45, who served as Brocade's CFO from 1999 to 2001, knew that the company should have been incurring compensation expenses for certain option grants to workers, but failed to incorporate those charges into the financial reports released to investors.
Skype mostly recovers from software bug
Users of Skype in Asia and parts of Europe were able to log on and use the free phone service Friday, nearly 24 hours after a software bug hit the popular program. The company, a division of online auction company eBay Inc., said that, while some of its estimated 220 million users had reported successfully connecting, others still were unable to do so. "We're on the road to recovery," the company said on its Heartbeat blog Friday morning. The computer program lets its users make long-distance phone calls over the Internet.
China goes after instant-noodle makers
The Chinese government slammed the country's instant-noodle makers as being partly to blame for a surge in inflation, saying they illegally colluded to boost prices by as much as 40 percent in a scheme that has prompted public outcry. The report came amid a nationwide probe into whether price-fixing or hoarding by producers is to blame for a 15.4 percent jump in food prices in July over the year-earlier period.
Nokia asks U.S. to ban Qualcomm chips
Nokia Corp., the world's largest mobile phone maker, said it has asked the United States to ban imports of chip sets made by Qualcomm Inc., along with phones and other products made using those chip sets. In asking the U.S. International Trade Commission to start an investigation, Nokia claimed that Qualcomm has engaged in unfair trade practices by infringing on Nokia's patents. Qualcomm declined to comment about specifics of the complaint, but said that it was part of a broader dispute.
Blog: Patent Pending
U to host big conference
The University of Minnesota will host the annual conference of the Association of University Research Parks in 2010. The conference will focus on ways research parks and innovation can aid the world’s economic recovery. Pretty good timing for the U. Through state-approved bonds, the school is spending $292 million to build four biomedical buidlings on its [...]
Comment on this story | Be the first to comment | Hide reader comments