Crain's Chicago Business back issues from July 2009:
Rowe's fixation unhealthy for shareholders.(John Rowe)
Jul 13, 2009 ... Exelon Corp. CEO John Rowe's pursuit of NRG Energy Inc. veered from the obsessive to the absurd last week. Excoriating NRG management for rejecting a sweetened takeover bid, Exelon derided the New Jersey-based power plant operator as "a standalone, highly leveraged, ...
Talk about a bank holdup: New First Chicago reboots; In plan B, execs seek more private-equity money for expansion.(First National Bank of Chicago)
Jul 13, 2009; ... Byline: STEVE DANIELS A troika of veterans of the old First National Bank of Chicago has stumbled in an attempt to revive the brand as a power player in the city's commercial-lending game. First Chicago Bank & Trust, run by well-known Chicago banker J. Mikesell ...
Sending the kids packing; Parents give offspring camp experience despite tighter vacation budgets.
Jul 13, 2009; ... Byline: SHIA KAPOS Despite the recession, local families are finding ways to finance summer camp for the kids, providing priceless memories for the youngsters and a precious respite for parents. Traci Capp of Deerfield is looking forward to some date-night dinners ...
Crain's earns 13 awards from AABP.(Alliance of Area Business Publications)(Brief article)
Jul 13, 2009 ... Crain's Chicago Business captured 13 awards, including for best Web site and explanatory journalism, more than any other publication in the Alliance of Area Business Publications' annual contest. Crain's also won the most first-place gold awardsfivealong with six silver and two ...
Schawk Value; SEC probe, losses slam graphics firm's stock.
Jul 13, 2009 ... Byline: H. LEE MURPHY When its graphics markets turned soft in the past, Schawk Inc. turned to acquisitions to keep growing. In the current slump, however, deals are proving elusive and the company is running out of options as it seeks to get past recent losses. ...
Amid crisis, where's Ed? Council's mute fiscal sentry abets Daley's deficits and dubious deals.
Jul 13, 2009; ... Byline: STEVEN R. STRAHLER As chairman of the City Council's powerful finance committee, Alderman Edward Burke (14th) has distinguished himself in recent years as the fiscal watchdog that doesn't bark. Supposedly the resident financial expert after four decades on the ...
TILTON'S TROUBLES; Why Wall Street is betting United will land in bankruptcy again.
Jul 13, 2009 ... Byline: JOHN PLETZ Glenn Tilton's turnaround at United Airlines is turning into a round trip to financial purgatory. Chicago-based United's cash is evaporating as the recession chokes off air travel. With more than $1.5 billion in debt coming due by next year, Mr ....
Planting acquisition seeds at Corn Products; Spotlight: Ilene Gordon.(Corn Products International Inc.)(Brief article)
Jul 13, 2009; ... Byline: H. Lee Murphy Job: CEO, chairman and president, Corn Products International Inc., in Westchester, since May 4. Vitals: 55 years old; bachelor's degree in mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1975; master's degree in management, MIT's Sloan ...
What's in a name? Not much for Chicago; City's hope to raise money with sponsorships, naming rights hasn't panned out.
Jul 13, 2009; ... Byline: PAUL MERRION Three years after Chicago set out to raise cash from corporate sponsorships, the sale of naming rights and other marketing deals, there's not much to show except a $285,460 consultant's study completed a year ago. While companies line up to ...
SECOND HOME, SECOND THOUGHTS; From Green Lake to New Buffalo, sellers sweat, buyers balk amid worst housing market in decades.
Jul 13, 2009; ... Byline: H. LEE MURPHY You can get away to your summer home in Harbor Country, but you can't escape the depressed real estate market. Like a cold and rainy midsummer weekend, the lousy market for second homes is darkening the mood of many Chicago-area residents with ...
Museum move stalls out; Fundraising falters for controversial kids' place in Grant Park.
Jul 13, 2009; ... Byline: GREG HINZ Just a year after winning hard-fought City Council permission to move to Grant Park, the Chicago Children's Museum has hit a financial wall, raising a real prospect that its highly controversial new facility in the park's northeast corner may never be built. ...
7 new proposals to keep an eye on.
Jul 13, 2009 ... Dozens of worker-friendly laws are making their way through the halls of Capitol Hill, including an unprecedented expansion of mandates on small employers, in some cases reaching businesses with as few as 15 employees. New laws that expand employee rights "sound good and are ...
Fast crowd flocks to vintage course; Something for everyone-and some quirks-at Sportsman's Country Club.
Jul 13, 2009; ... Byline: H. LEE MURPHY The best restaurants, no surprise, have visitors' cars lined up out front at dinnertime. A busy parking lot at any golf course is usually a signal that tee times are hard to come by. At Sportsman's Country Club in Northbrook, the parking lot is virtually ...
Suits awaken old ghosts for Giannoulias; Family bank's foreclosure on loans to 2 crime figures raises questions as he eyes Senate.
Jul 13, 2009 ... Byline: THOMAS A. CORFMAN Broadway Bank is trying to recoup $12.9 million from two Chicago crime figures, rekindling a controversy as the bank's former chief loan officer, state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, gears up to run for the U.S. Senate. In recently filed ...
On the move.(BCS Financial Corp. to appoint Matthew T. Brannigan as senior vice president)(Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago appoints Jim Nelson and Anna Paulson as vice presidents)(Harley-Davidson Financial Services Inc. appoints Lawrence G. Hund)
Jul 13, 2009 ... CONSUMER SERVICES ORBITZ WORLDWIDE INC., Chicago: Frank Petito, 41, to president of Orbitz for Business, from senior vice-president of corporate development. FINANCIAL SERVICES BCS FINANCIAL CORP., Oakbrook Terrace: Matthew T. Brannigan, 46, to senior ...
EDIFICE COMPLEX.(Chicago Children's Museum )(Brief article)
Jul 13, 2009 ... 2006 January: Chicago Children's Museum announces plans to move from Navy Pier to the northeast corner of Grant Park. May: Alderman Burton Natarus and some residents object to the park location. September: New location proposed near Monroe and Columbus, ...
CORRECTION.(Correction notice)
Jul 13, 2009 ... * A graphic in the June 29 Market Facts section ...
SPORTSMAN'S COUNTRY CLUB.(Brief article)
Jul 13, 2009 ... SPORTSMAN'S COUNTRY CLUB 3535 Dundee Road Northbrook (847) 291-2351 www.sportsmansgolf.com Golf operations director: Mark E. Miller Tee times: Accepted seven days in advance Green fee: $49 on weekends for nonresidents who walk ...
BUD MAN'S BUZZ KILL; Still No. 2 in Chicago, distributor Jackson must deliver growth for tough new owner of Anheuser-Busch.
Jul 20, 2009; ... Byline: DAVID STERRETT Over the past decade, Yusef Jackson has dabbled in the magazine business, bid for a Major League Baseball franchise and publicly pined for the Chicago Sun-Times. Meanwhile, his primary business as Budweiser's exclusive distributor in a rich ...
FALLEN FAVORITES; Community fabrics torn as recession claims local businesses.
Jul 20, 2009; ... Byline: MONEE FIELDS-WHITE and H. LEE MURPHY Marina Post has never had to go far to find a unique gift. She always goes straight to Findables, a home decor store and North Side fixture for 24 years. But soon, she'll have to look elsewhere. Like so many small ...
Madigan stokes gas plant plan; Funnels funds to study giant S. Side clean-energy project.
Jul 20, 2009 ... Byline: STEVE DANIELS House Speaker Michael Madigan has fast-tracked $10 million in state funds to study the feasibility of a proposed $2-billion natural-gas plant on the city's Southeast Side that would employ 200 people and produce nearly a quarter of the gas consumed by ...
Economies of scale at Boone Creek; Crowds flocking to short country course for great practice greens, solid play.
Jul 20, 2009; ... Byline: H. LEE MURPHY Maybe in this time of economic hardship, a little tightening of the golf budget is in order. If so, then bargain-priced destinations such as Boone Creek Golf Club in Bull Valley become a realistic option. On weekdays you can walk Boone ...
When work is no laughing matter; Office humor can boost morale, but avoid "eye-roll situations'.
Jul 20, 2009; ... Byline: SHIA KAPOS Aviation executive Carl Robst got a cold stare from his boss when he tried to lighten a tense discussion of problems with a maintenance project by joking, "It could have been worse.'' "He stiffened up and stared right through me. The body language ...
It's time to put away those childish things.(Brief article)
Jul 20, 2009 ... Whatever its initial pros and cons, the Chicago Children's Museum's proposed move to Grant Park is an idea whose time has passed. As Greg Hinz reported in Crain's last week, fundraising for the controversial new building has stalled as potential donors battered by the recession ...
Builder hits the wall; Charisma catapulted Clune high, but can't counter slump.(Michael Clune )
Jul 20, 2009; ... Byline: EDDIE BAEB Michael Clune rose to the top of the Chicago construction business largely through the force of his personality. With humor, charm and tireless schmoozing, Mr. Clune pushed Clune Construction Co. to $380 million in revenue in 200830 years after he immigrated ...
Dean's dream: Mayo by the Lake; Northwestern boss seeks to make profit powerhouse a medical mecca.(Dean Harrison)
Jul 20, 2009; ... Byline: MIKE COLIAS Dean Harrison is marching Chicago's biggest and richest hospital toward a new goal: national renown as a medical research center. The CEO of Northwestern Memorial Healthcare hopes to recast it in the mold of Johns Hopkins or the Mayo Clinic, where ...
Split politicos; THE EXTREMES OF HUMAN RESPONSE TO CRISIS ARE ON DISPLAY IN D.C. AND SPRINGFIELD.
Jul 20, 2009; ... Byline: Greg Hinz In times of crisis, human beings are inclined to respond one of two ways. Either they make like an ostrich and duck their heads until trouble passes. Or they rush to do SOMETHING, ANYTHING to make it better. Humans in groups tend even more to those ...
Exchanges head for green war; CME, Sandor jockey to dominate $120-bil. cap-and-trade market.(Richard Sandor)
Jul 20, 2009; ... Byline: ANN SAPHIR Green may be the hue of environmentalism, but it's still the color of money to the Chicago futures exchanges vying for control of the nascent trading market in carbon emission credits. CME Group Inc., the world's largest futures exchange, and the ...
Could Deere, Cat CEOs solve GM's woes? Automaker's problems are familiar to Lane, Owens.
Jul 20, 2009 ... Byline: JOHN PLETZ If General Motors Co. wants a boss who's been down the road it needs to travel, it might look in Moline or Peoria. The lumbering automaker would find two CEOsDeere & Co.'s Robert Lane and Jim Owens of Caterpillar Inc.who have tackled union ...
Winners & Losers.
Jul 20, 2009; ... Byline: ANN SAPHIR CME Group Inc. has boosted an index of Chicago-area stocks, but analysts say the best picks are to be found among the biggest losers. After months when markets churned with unprecedented volatility, some money managers and analysts recommend buying ...