Everett group buys Infiniti dealership
The Everett Automotive Group has purchased Infiniti of Little Rock for an undisclosed amount, the company said Friday.
The dealership at 15 Colonel Glenn Plaza Drive is the company's fifth acquisition of a dealership, according to a news release.
Everett owns a Buick-GMC dealership in Bryant and other dealerships in Northwest Arkansas.
The dealerships are owned by Dwight and Susie Everett and two of their sons-in-law.
"Infiniti offers some of the best performance and luxury vehicles on the market, and now those customers can get the same family owned, customer friendly sales and service that Everett provides at all of our dealerships," Susie Everett said in a statement.
-- Jessica Seaman
Macy's CEO lobbies to avoid port strike
Macy's Inc. Chief Executive Officer Terry Lundgren said Friday that he's increasingly concerned about the threat of a labor strike at West Coast ports, so he's enlisting retail heavyweights to lobby the White House for help.
After Lundgren and the National Retail Federation urged President Barack Obama to take action, the executive said he also sought the help of friend Doug McMillon, the CEO of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
"There's a big strike potential on the West Coast right now, and it's Christmas," he said at Bloomberg's The Year Ahead: 2015 conference in Washington. "It's a holiday, period; we need the inventory to get through the system. This is the wrong time to slow down work."
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in Southern California serve as the nation's biggest container hub, meaning a labor stoppage could cripple the supply of goods to retailers. Already, labor negotiations, equipment shortages and rail delays have slowed shipments through the ports. Unions and management have been mired in talks since their six-year contract expired July 1.
Lundgren, 62, said retail federation President Matt Shay has lobbied the president on the issue, aiming to urge labor and management to reach a deal. McMillon also contacted Valerie Jarrett at the White House to move things along, Lundgren said. Frank Benenati, a White House spokesman, didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, didn't have an immediate comment.
-- Bloomberg News
FCC questions AT&T's fiber-optic 'pause'
Regulators asked AT&T Inc. to explain comments by its chief executive officer that he may delay expanding its fast Web service because the government is still debating rules to govern Internet traffic.
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson on Wednesday said additional fiber-optic line deployment is on "pause," two days after President Barack Obama challenged the Federal Communications Commission to adopt tough rules for Internet service providers.
The comments highlight an unsettled environment for broadband investment as Washington prolongs its debate over how tightly to regulate Internet service from cable and telephone companies.
Obama's proposed open-Internet rules are opposed by AT&T and other service providers including Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp. Strong rules are backed by the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which represents technology companies including Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who had offered weaker regulations, is considering whether to adopt Obama's approach or take a different course. The independent agency has no deadline to act.
Fiber can carry fast Internet signals, and extending that service is a policy goal for the FCC and Obama administration.
-- Bloomberg News
Hertz to audit flawed '11-'13 reports
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. -- Hertz Global Holdings Inc., under shareholder pressure to hire a permanent top executive, said Friday that it will revise financial statements from 2011 through 2013 and continue a review that has found $87 million of errors so far.
The board's audit committee is "looking into the tone at the top" and management's influence over those mistakes. Hertz said it was advised in June that it was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Naples, Fla.-based rental-car company has found that its internal controls had at least one material weakness and that it had ineffective procedures as of Dec. 31, according to a filing.
Hertz has been searching for a new chief executive officer since Mark Frissora resigned as chairman and CEO in September, as the company faced pressure from activist shareholders including billionaire Carl Icahn over its accounting issues. In August, Icahn disclosed a stake of more than 8 percent in the company, and the next month Hertz reached an agreement with the activist investor that replaced some of its directors with his associates.
"Companies with problems reporting accurately for one or two periods usually have much larger problems," said Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan.
-- The Associated Press
Wal-Mart protest results in 23 arrests
PICO RIVERA, Calif. -- A demonstration at a Los Angeles-area Wal-Mart store focusing on higher wages ended Thursday in nearly two dozen arrests.
Authorities say 23 men and women were arrested after they blocked traffic at a Pico Rivera intersection during a protest that began with a sit-down strike inside the local Wal-Mart.
The Los Angeles County sheriff's office said those detained were cited for failure to disperse and released.
A group supported by the United Food & Commercial Workers union is demanding a wage of $15 an hour and full-time work for some employees of the nation's largest retailer.
Asked to comment on the report, Wal-Mart spokesman Brooke Buchanan said: "Today we focused on serving our customers, but every day we're focused on the opportunity that we offer our associates across the country."
-- The Associated Press
Ten oil rigs added despite futures drop
The number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. increased this week even as crude futures headed for the longest run of weekly declines in almost three decades.
Rigs targeting oil jumped by 10 to 1,578, Baker Hughes Inc. said. Those drilling for natural gas declined by six, the Houston-based field services company's website. Miscellaneous rigs dropped by one to zero.
The number of drilling rigs in Arkansas was unchanged this week at 12. Nine of the rigs, drilling for natural gas, were in the Fayetteville Shale.
The nation's oil rig count has fallen from a peak of 1,609 on Oct. 10 as companies slow drilling in response to a slide in crude prices over the past four months. Hess Corp., one of the largest operators in North Dakota's prolific Bakken shale formation, said this week that it plans to idle three rigs next year.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 11/15/2014