An activist investor in locally based Steak n Shake Co. declared victory this afternoon in a proxy battle for two board seats. The Lion Fund of Texas released a statement after today’s annual meeting saying that “an overwhelming majority” of shareholders supported its effort to turn around the struggling restaurant chain. But Steak n Shake […]
Negotiations are heating up between Formula One and Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials that could bring F1 racing back to Indianapolis in 2009. Speedway boss Tony George told an audience at yesterday’s IU Business…
Deadlines for a weekly publication are tricky. Sometimes when news breaks, you get lucky. Sometimes, you don’t. In this case, forgive me if I’m a little late to the parade and-following the elephants with broom and shovel-to the sorry mess involving the men’s basketball program at my alma mater, Indiana University. So, to sum up, this is what bothers me most: Everything. And who’s to blame? Everyone. It’s the culture. It’s the media. It’s gross mismanagement. It’s poor hiring. It’s…
Several local entities, ranging from St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital to the state of Indiana to Indianapolis Public Schools, last year experienced wellpublicized electronic security breaches involving confidential data. While the victims of the lapses and those at fault emerged relatively unscathed, such incidents underscore the ease in which personal information can be lost or stolen in today’s computerized world. With roughly 165 million people tapping into to the Internet nationally, the opportunities for security breaches are plentiful. Throw in the…
When I worked in a factory some 30 years back, it was a dangerous place filled with heavy machinery, slick floors, sharp edges, overhangs and chemical fumes. Many of us envied the office workers who never got dirty and never seemed to face anything more dangerous than a bad-hair day. Now that I work in offices, I’ve discovered a whole new realm of dangers, such as carpal-tunnel syndrome and headache from squinting at computer monitors. But little did I guess…
Phony going-out-of-business sales long have plagued Oriental rug retailing here and across the country, dealers say. The industry
is susceptible because Oriental rugs can cost thousands of dollars, and many consumers lack the expertise to judge whether
a rug’s quality matches its price.
Indiana weather is notorious for the volatile swings it can produce from one day to the next. Just this month, high temperatures in Indianapolis fluctuated about 40 degrees within 48 hours. The disparity in major storm damage that befell the state the past two years is quite unusual, though, even by Hoosier standards. Statewide property losses totaled $1.5 billion in 2006, the most in the nation, due in large part to what’s become known as the Good Friday hailstorm. Last…
Lawmakers last year approved a bill that would have given the NFL a onetime tax break on spending and revenue tied to the 2011 Super Bowl, a moot point once team owners awarded the game to Dallas. Now, similar legislation has passed both chambers of the General Assembly-this time extending the exemption to the NCAA, which has committed to hosting its Final Four basketball championships in Indianapolis regularly through 2039. If signed into law, the measure would allow the NFL…
Not surprisingly, not everyone is thrilled with former Indiana University and Texas Tech basketball coach Bob Knight joining ESPN’s in-studio crew for its NCAA March Madness coverage. Knight’s move to the media…
Institutional Shareholder Services, a proxy advisory firm, is recommending that two Steak n Shake Inc. stockholders be elected to the Indianapolis company’s board of directors at the annual meeting on March 7. For months, Sardar Biglari, who controls San Antonio -based Lion Fund, has been appealing to Steak n Shake investors through billboards and other […]
With Indiana’s Democratic primary election looming May 6, Barack Obama leads rival Hillary Clinton by a margin of 40 percent to 25 percent, according to a poll released yesterday. Obama holds commanding leads over Clinton among men, women, African-Americans, whites and young people who were registered to vote, according to the poll, which was conducted […]
Based on 50 conversations IU Foundation President Curt Simic had with donors the week after news broke of the potential firing
of men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson over alleged NCAA improprieties, the chief of Indiana University’s philanthropic
arm says he has little fear the latest athletic department controversy will affect financial support to the school.
In the mid 1990s, Carmel’s then-giant Thomson Consumer Electronics annually sold $300 million worth of high-end televisions under the name Proscan. But by the end of the decade, the company’s French owners had abandoned Proscan in favor of a strategy emphasizing the betterknown RCA brand. Now a former Thomson executive based in Indianapolis is attempting to revive Proscan. Last year, Pat Deighan sold nearly $50 million worth of Proscan high-definition flatscreen LCD televisions in the United States. This year, he…
A central Indiana business networking company that’s on a growth tear. Rainmakers Marketing Group Inc. more than doubled its membership to 1,100 in 2007 alone, and has added another 200 members already this year. Revenue is expected to surpass $600,000 in 2008. “The business model is simple,” said cofounder Tony Scelzo, 35. “We teach business people about growing a business.” R a i n m a ke r s ‘ events offer more than talking heads and forced interaction. The…
In 1994, Indianapolis real estate entrepreneur Mark Ristow read some investment advice that changed his life. In the book “Beating the Street,” Peter Lynch, the former star mutual fund manager, described a “can’t lose proposition (almost)” called bank-conversion investing. The game: Buying stock in mutual, depositor-owned banks when they convert into public companies. Depositors get in at the initial-public-offering price, often a discount. So “the next time you pass a mutual savings bank or an S&L that’s still cooperatively owned,”…
“All of us have a healthy respect for the freedom of artistic expression that college theater represents, and all of us agree that out of respect for the families of those victims of the tragedies at Northern Illinois University and…
UnitedHealthcare has signed a three-year contract with the Indiana Orthopaedic Hospital, bringing the specialty hospital into UnitedHealthcare’s central Indiana network of health care providers. The contract, announced today, took effect on Feb. 1. It gives the orthopedic hospital “in-network” status, which typically means bigger discounts for UnitedHealthcare customers. OrthoIndy, a group of more 60 orthopedic […]
The 200-plus workers EDS plans to add at Purdue Research Park will be housed in 45,000 square feet of a new, 78,000-square-foot office building. Called Innovation Center, the building will open in early 2009, the university said as part of this afternoon’s announcement. Many of the new positions will be software engineers and business analysts. […]
The Service Employees International Union, which has organized janitors in Cincinnati, Columbus, Ohio, and now Indianapolis, begins negotiations today on behalf of 1,500 local janitors after years of contentious organizing efforts. Companies participating in the Indianapolis negotiations are ABM Industries Inc. of San Francisco; Group Services France of Paris; Mitch Murch’s Maintenance Management Co. of […]
EDS plans to hire more than 100 workers at a new location in Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, according to sources familiar with an announcement scheduled this afternoon. The exact number of jobs was not available. The Plano, Texas-based computer services firm would not comment. EDS will hire business analysts, systems and software developers […]
