Chicago Sun-Times is put up for sale Sun-Times Media Group Inc., parent of the Chicago Sun-Times, put the city's second-largest daily newspaper and "any or all" of the company's assets up for sale amid a decline in advertising and revenue at its newspapers. The company said its board of directors also is looking at other strategic alternatives to increase shareholder value, including joint ventures or strategic partnerships. But a sale has been, and remains, widely expected. Key shareholders in the struggling company, which also owns dozens of smaller Chicago-area papers, have been pushing for its sale to boost a badly lagging stock price caused by the industrywide loss of readers and advertisers to the Internet.
Furniture retailer Wickes files for bankruptcy Wickes Furniture Co. filed for bankruptcy protection, blaming record home foreclosures and the subprime mortgage mess for its need to take cover from creditors. The bankruptcy of one of the nation's largest furniture retailers is the latest sign of distress among businesses that count on confident consumers. Trouble started last year as "record gas prices, record home foreclosures and a significant slowdown in the housing market" stemming from the subprime mortgage meltdown stifled consumers' urge to furnish their homes, say papers filed by Richard Clausing, chief financial officer of the Wheeling, Ill.-based company. Wickes closed its five Twin Cities stores last year.
MySpace integrates on-site programming MySpace users will be able to add games, e-mail services and other features from outside developers without ever leaving the site under a new program the popular online community will fully launch next month. MySpace already allows users to customize their personal profile pages. But they generally must go off the site, grab the lines of programming code they're interested in and cut and paste that into their profiles. Now, users will be able to add those features more directly. Under the MySpace Developer Platform, an outside e-mail provider can write a program that sits on the personal home page users see when they log on. Users can check for new messages right there.
More Movie Gallery-owned stores to close Video rental company Movie Gallery Inc. announced plans to close an additional 400 stores as part of its reorganization plan as it attempts to exit bankruptcy. Movie Gallery, the nation's No. 2 video rental chain behind Blockbuster Inc., said it is closing underperforming and unprofitable stores that operate under the Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video names. The company in September announced the closing of 520 stores. The company sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October after months of struggling with debt from its 2005 purchase of rival Hollywood Entertainment Corp. for $1 billion.
Service pack for Windows Vista coming soon Microsoft Corp. said it sent a major package of upgrades and fixes for Windows Vista, its latest operating system, off to manufacturers for mass production on Monday. The software maker said Vista Service Pack 1, or SP1, improves reliability, security and performance. The upgrade, to be available in March, will go first to business customers with volume licensing deals, the company said. Many of the fixes for Vista have already been released as part of regular monthly updates in the year since the operating system went on sale to consumers.
Supplier dispute idles some Chrysler plants A dispute between Chrysler and parts supplier Plastech Engineered Products Inc. forced Chrysler to shut down or cancel a shift at five factories, and the automaker said it could idle all 14 of its assembly factories. Plastech supplies Chrysler with about 500 plastic interior, exterior and powertrain components for nearly all of its vehicles, according to a lawsuit Chrysler filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit. The automaker is seeking the tools used by Plastech, which are owned by Chrysler, to make the components. Without the tools, Chrysler says it eventually will have to shut down production systemwide. Chrysler terminated its contracts with the supplier on Friday, before Plastech filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
