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Typical CEO made $9.6 million last year, AP study finds
NEW YORK (AP) -- Profits at big U.S. companies broke records last year, and so did pay for CEOs.
The head of a typical public company made $9.6 million in 2011, according to an analysis by The Associated Press using data from Equilar, an executive pay research firm.
That was up more than 6 percent from the previous year, and is the second year in a row of increases. The figure is also the highest since the AP began tracking executive compensation in 2006.
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More travelers to hit the road this Memorial Day
NEW YORK (AP) -- More Americans will hit the road this holiday weekend than a year ago. And they'll have a bit more money to spend thanks to lower gas prices.
Memorial Day kicks off the summer travel season, and since pump prices never reached $4 or $5 a gallon, as feared, economists says travelers are likely to dine out or shop more once they pull off the road.
About 30.7 million people will drive more than 50 miles for Memorial Day trips, according to auto club AAA. That's 400,000 more than last year, a jump AAA attributes to improvement in the economy and consumer attitudes. The number of holiday travelers grows to 34.8 million when you include planes, trains and other means of transportation.
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Icahn spends $785 million on Chesapeake Energy stake
NEW YORK (AP) -- Activist investor Carl Icahn has taken a sizable stake in Chesapeake Energy Corp. and is calling for at least four of company's directors to be replaced.
Icahn spent about $785 million to buy 50.1 million shares, or 7.6 percent, of the second-largest U.S. natural gas producer.
The billionaire investor's stock buy was disclosed in a regulatory filing Friday. It comes as Chesapeake has been hit hard by falling natural gas prices. It is also being criticized for allowing CEO Aubrey McClendon to borrow money from companies that do business with Chesapeake, and allowing him the perk of buying personal stakes in company wells.
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Sycamore not ready to pull trigger on Talbots deal
NEW YORK (AP) -- The women's clothier Talbots Inc. said Friday that a deadline expired without a deal in its exclusive talks about being acquired by a private equity firm and that it will actively pursue other options.
Its shares plunged by more than a third in morning trading.
The retailer said that Sycamore Partners told the Massachusetts-based company that "it is not prepared to execute a transaction at this time." Sycamore had previously indicated it would pay $3.05 per share for Talbots. The end of the talks sent Talbots' stock down $1.05, or 41 percent, to close at $1.51 Friday.
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US consumer confidence highest in 4½ years
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A better hiring outlook and lower gas prices pushed U.S. consumer confidence to its highest level in four and a half years.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment jumped to 79.3 in May, up from 76.4 in the previous month. That's the best reading since October 2007 — two months before the recession began.
A high proportion of consumers say they are hearing about job gains rather than losses. The number of those who say they heard of job losses dropped to its lowest point since mid-2007.
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China challenges US trade penalties at WTO
GENEVA (AP) -- China filed World Trade Organization cases Friday challenging U.S. anti-subsidy tariffs on 22 Chinese goods including steel, widening a conflict between the two giant trading partners.
The cases come as a weakening global economy fuels trade frictions as governments try to boost exports and create jobs.
China began its challenge by requesting consultations with the United States through the WTO to resolve the dispute. If that fails, China can request a ruling by a WTO panel, which can order the United States to scrap measures found to violate free-trade commitments or to pay compensation.
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Toyota looks to growth in emerging markets
TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota is looking to emerging markets for growth, targeting 50 percent of its global vehicle sales in such countries by 2015, and rolling out eight compact models over the next few years.
But Toyota Motor Corp. Executive Vice President Yukitoshi Funo said Friday the company won't even try to compete in supercheap models that are plentiful in developing nations.
He told reporters Asia is a "second motherland" for Toyota, where it will boost research and development as well as production of auto parts.
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P&G to add latches to make detergent packs safer
DALLAS (AP) -- The maker of Tide Pods will create a new double-latch lid to deter children from accessing and eating the brightly colored detergent packets, a company spokesman said Friday.
Procter & Gamble spokesman Paul Fox said the Cincinnati-based company plans to create a new lid on tubs of Tide Pods "in the next couple of weeks." The company continues to study the design of the package, Fox said.
Doctors say children sometimes swallow Tide Pods and similar laundry products, around 1-inch packets that are meant to be dropped into a washing machine in place of liquid or powder detergent. Nearly 250 cases nationally have been reported to poison control centers this year, a figure that's expected to rise. No deaths have been reported.
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Sugar fight takes another bitter turn
NEW YORK (AP) -- What defines sugar? It's getting to be a stickier question.
The Sugar Association is accusing the makers of high fructose corn syrup of trying to candy-coat their image by calling their product a "sugar." The Corn Refiners Association is firing back by calling the accusations another attempt to censor its efforts to explain to the public that high fructose corn syrup is, well, a form of sugar.
The latest twist in the spat came after a recent medical study prompted headlines such as "Sugar can make you dumb." The Sugar Association issued a release this week noting the substance used in the study was actually fructose, not its sugar. The group blamed a "multimillion-dollar advertising campaign" by the Corn Refiners Association for generating the confusion.
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'Idol' moves toward lower payouts for runners-up
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Coming in second on "American Idol" may still be a path to superstardom, but it no longer offers guaranteed paychecks worthy of the next pop idol or rock star.
Wednesday night's runner-up, 16-year-old Jessica Sanchez, doesn't have a definite shot at producing an album and could be paid as little as $30,000 in advances for recording singles, according to the "Idol" contract she and other Season 11 contestants signed earlier this year.
The agreement appears to be the first time in "Idol's" history that producers are not offering the show's runner-up an album deal that in previous years came with a guaranteed advance of at least $175,000, an Associated Press review of the Fox show's contracts reveals.
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By The Associated Press(equals)
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 74.92 points to 12,454.83. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2.86 points to 1,317.82. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.85 points to 2,837.53.
Benchmark U.S. crude on Friday added 20 cents to finish the week at $90.86 per barrel in New York while Brent crude rose by 28 cents to end at $106.83 per barrel in London.
In other futures trading, natural gas fell by 7.9 cents, or 3 percent, to finish at $2.568 per 1,000 cubic feet. Heating oil added about a penny a piece to finish at $2.8288 and wholesale gasoline increased by 1.64 cents to end at $2.8929 per gallon.
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