Procter & Gamble Co. announced that it will spend $1.8 billion to acquire the 20 percent of a Chinese joint venture, Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., that it doesn't already own. Hutchison Whampoa sells a broad range of P&G products in China including shampoo and conditioners, laundry detergents, toothpaste, facial moisturizers and feminine-care and baby-care items.
The move by P&G comes earlier than most analysts expected; originally, P&G was believed to be likely to make the purchase sometime between 2006 and 2017, but the company said that the price was only going to get more expensive.
The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) says that attendance at its just-concluded annual show in Chicago was up about 55 percent over a year ago, owing in part to the co-location of other shows at the same time and place.
Some 34,000 people attended the show, according to FMI.
A Michigan judge has ruled that six former Kmart executives accused in a lawsuit of essentially plundering and mismanaging the company while it descended into bankruptcy, including former CEO Charles Conaway, won’t have to face a jury.
The judge ordered the case to binding arbitration, ruling that the executives’ employment contracts prevented a jury trial.
KC's View:
Too bad about the jury trial. If nothing else, we were hoping for tremendous damages against a bunch of guys who clearly put their own interests ahead of their company, ahead of their employees, ahead of their shareholders.
