To refine your search through our archives use our Advanced Search
We marked the winter solstice last week and ushered in the cold season. She arrived, however, on the arm of a promise that the days will grow longer and warmer, renewal waltzing in on their wake. As the seasons turn and the year wanes, indulge me a passage about passage. Early one morning long, long ago, my former wife Laura and I found ourselves seated across from one another at a small table in the basement cafeteria of Wills Eye…
Ty Stover is not your average mall Santa. From his real beard to his jolly laugh and rosy pink cheeks, he is a living, breathing
version of St. Nick.
While the seasons are a lot more predictable than the stock market, the market does go through climatic changes that investors should adjust to. In late September, after the market had been rallying for about six weeks off the August low, I mentioned it would be a good idea to reduce equity to around 40 -cent to 50 percent. In the middle of November, I wrote that it might be smart to reduce that level even more. If you’re still…
The money is seductive: an “easy” $1.6 billion. That’s what gambling brought to Indiana in taxes this year. The prize might not be as big in 2008. There’s new competition. And a big drop in gambling revenue would spoil the negotiations that all the nervous Indiana politicians have been doing. Their jobs are on the line, and they know it. Hoosiers are embarrassed. They don’t like that. I have a beautiful picture of two of my children standing inside the…
When Eli Lilly and Co. CEO Sidney Taurel announced his retirement Dec. 18, he said he was leaving the company in good shape.
And he can cite plenty of evidence to support him. But when Taurel steps down as CEO March 31, he also will leave a legacy
of a languishing stock price and some costly mistakes that some think could have been avoided. “The facts are the facts; I
guess you can’t ignore it. The stock price has been…
It’s a tumultuous time to take a company public. But the executives leading ExactTarget Inc. and Aprimo Inc., the two Indianapolis marketing-software companies with pending initial public offerings, have an abundance of reasons to think they’ll be successful. Here’s a big one: Each has a major competitor in its niche that already has gone public and done well. In the case of e-mail marketing firm ExactTarget, the competitor is Massachusetts-based Constant Contact Inc., which raised $93 million in an IPO…
Frog is confident. Toad is selfdoubting. Frog gets mail. Toad doesn’t. Frog is willing to take some risks. Toad is cautious. Frog looks funny in a bathing suit. Toad looks funnier in a bathing suit. And then there’s an actionpacked fight sequence in which … No, that doesn’t happen. Frog and Toad are friends. They love each other. They are happy when the other is happy. But then the villain comes to town, a giant … Nope, no villain. Over…
Several central Indiana radio stations will ring in 2008 with new formats and on-air talent, and new marketing campaigns bellowing the changes to listeners and advertisers. One station is keeping its plans secret, fearful of an industry domino effect if its strategy leaks out. There’s plenty at stake. Listener ratings for the first quarter of 2008 will be watched closely, local media buyers said, and could affect spending later in the year. A t l a n t a -…
John C. Lechleiter, whom Eli Lilly and Co.’s board voted to replace Sidney Taurel as CEO, is known for getting things done
and yet also for being good at analysis and relating to people under him. Taurel will step down at the end of March but remain
chairman until the end of 2008.
Brothers Bar & Grill, a small Wisconsin-based chain, has filed plans to replace Broad Ripple Trophy Center at one of the neighborhood’s most prominent corners, said Senior Planner Bryan…
Mayor Bart Peterson’s plan to permanently settle Indianapolis’ massive liability for unfunded police and firefighter pensions will not be completed before he leaves office. Peterson, who approved a local income-tax hike this summer in part to underwrite nearly $500 million in pension bonds, told IBJ in an interview that Mayor-elect Greg Ballard will decide whether […]
Gary Linder, an Indianapolis retail real estate pioneer, died suddenly yesterday. Linder, 56, founded The Linder Co. in 1982, developing it from a one-man real estate brokerage into a 40-person operation with offices in three states. He sold the company, now known as Sitehawk Retail Real Estate, three years ago. “He was a real student […]
Sidney Taurel, who is retiring at the end of March after nearly a decade as CEO of Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co., will see his salary cut in half while he remains chairman through the end of 2008. His base salary will be $864,250, with a $1.2 million non-stock bonus. The bonus figure is a […]
Decades ago, when Indianapolis was an industrial center, the economies of the city and the state tended to
march in unison. When manufacturing cut back, pretty much everyone felt it.
But the Indianapolis area and the state have been growing apart…
A couple of restaurant updates: The owners of downtown’s Scholar’s Inn, Lyle & Kerry Feigenbaum, plan to close the restaurant on Jan. 1 for a month-long remodeling project. They plan to…
Gregg Bechtold, who has been president and CEO of Johnson Memorial Hospital since 1992, will leave the post Dec. 31 after arriving at an agreement with hospital directors Dec. 19. “He and the board reached agreement to end his employment here,” said hospital spokesman Bill Oakes. Oakes offered no details on the separation. In a […]
By Norm Heikens Cabinet and furniture makers are experiencing their most harrowing times since the Rust Belt recessions of the early 1980s as homebuilders cut back in the wake of the subprime credit crunch. John Land, chief financial officer of Cole Hardwood Inc. in Logansport, said his company has tried to counter the slump by […]
Exceptions carved into the energy bill signed yesterday by President Bush probably spared the recreational vehicle industry from a sales slide. The effort to improve fuel economy does not apply to chassis that carry RVs or vehicles that tow RVs. The exceptions have the industry breathing a sigh of relief, according to The Truth in […]
Last Friday, after catching the musical “Assassins” at Hedback Theatre, I barely made it to the new Meridian Bar and Restaurant in time for a late dinner.
What I want to talk about now, though, isn’t the show (that review will…
A 600,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility could go up in Shelbyville if a request to annex and rezone about 124 acres near the city southeast of Indianapolis is approved, according to The Shelbyville News. Hoosier Property Holdings LLC of Cincinnati brought the proposal before the Shelbyville Common Council on Dec. 17. The site is near […]
