IBJ Staff

Shareholders of both companies today approved the $5.6 billion merger between National City Bank and PNC Financial Services Group Inc., formally sealing a deal that is expected to close Dec. 31.Pittsburgh-based PNC announced plans to buy National City on Oct. 24, with help from a $7.7 billion infusion from the federal government’s financial industry bailout plan.The merger […]

Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC’s “Mad Money” television show, said yesterday that Eli Lilly and Co. stock is “one that will help investors sleep at night” because of its 5.2 percent dividend yield, which he called “juicy.” The popular TV host has shied away from Lilly in the past because of the company’s huge […]

The editor and senior vice president of the Baltimore Sun will join the Indiana University School of Journalism in January to direct a new sports journalism program in Indianapolis and Bloomington.Tim Franklin, who graduated from IU in 1983, served as a jurist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2006 and 2007 and was previously editor of […]

Steak n Shake Co. has recorded its 14th consecutive quarter with a same-store sales decline. The locally based chain reported a 1.4 percent drop in same-store sales for the first quarter, which ended Dec. 17. The chain saw its revenue fall 6.7 percent in fiscal 2008, for a fiscal year loss of about $23 million. […]

November was another bleak month for the Indianapolis-area housing market, with the number of units sold tumbling 29 percent compared with a year earlier. Sales in the 13-county Indianapolis area totaled 1,448 for the month, compared with 2,028 in November 2007, according to the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors. The latest month was weak by […]

Sen. Evan Bayh’s campaign efforts on behalf of Barack Obama may soon pay off for Indiana’s alternative power industry. A Bayh spokeswoman said the Democrat will stage a press conference at 1 p.m. at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He’s expected to announce efforts to secure part of President-elect Obama’s economic stimulus package on behalf of Indiana’s […]

People who want to position themselves for the best jobs in the Indianapolis area through 2016 would do well to bone up on technology. The Indiana Department of Workforce Development says in its annual Hoosier Hot 50 jobs forecast that computer software engineers will offer the best combination of job growth and high wages. In […]

Maarten van Wijk, the general manager hired by The Columbia Club in 2007 to polish its lackluster operations, has been lured back to Hershey, Penn. Club President Gregory Harris informed members of van Wijk’s impending departure in a Dec. 9 letter. “While it is a great disappointment that Maarten is leaving, I am pleased that […]

A New York state developer that proposed a recreation and entertainment complex near Daleville a year ago is still pursuing the project. This time, according to The Star Press of Muncie, the complex would be located farther north of the town but still close to Interstate 69. Daleville is between Anderson and Muncie. Developer Joe […]

An effort to raise the high school graduation rate in Indiana has attracted an additional $937,500 in corporate contributions, the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce said today. The contributions bring to $1.7 the total raised for Common Goal, a Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce program aimed at boosting the graduation rate to 80 percent by 2012. […]

Fortune Industries Inc. said this morning that it has sold all its businesses outside of human resources, a shift in strategy aimed at reducing the company’s debt and making financial results less volatile. Indianapolis-based Fortune had operated as a conglomerate, with holdings in fields ranging from wireless services to ultraviolet printing. Financial terms of the […]