Krispy Kreme to buy Insomnia Cookies
PHILADELPHIA -- Doughnut-maker Krispy Kreme is buying a majority stake in Philadelphia-based Insomnia Cookies for an undisclosed sum.
The Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Krispy Kreme made the announcement Friday.
Krispy Kreme Chief Executive Officer Mike Tattersfield said in a statement the firm is "delighted" to add Insomnia to the company. The late-night bakery specializes in warm cookie deliveries.
Seth Berkowitz will remain in charge of Insomnia after the close of the sale later this year.
Berkowitz founded Insomnia Cookies in 2003 when he was a student at the University of Pennsylvania.
-- The Associated Press
JetBlue eliminates jobs to lower costs
JetBlue Airways Corp. is eliminating an unspecified number of jobs in the latest phase of its campaign to cut as much as $300 million from operating costs by 2020.
The reductions follow a reorganization of certain teams within the airline to streamline operations, the carrier said in a statement Friday. JetBlue declined to say how much it will save with the changes, while calling it a "meaningful step toward our corporate structural cost goal."
Most of the job cuts announced to employees this week are at the airline's New York headquarters.
"We need to make these difficult decisions to ensure we are set up for success," the statement said. The airline is eliminating some open jobs and offering voluntary buyouts to help reduce the number of layoffs, according to Doug McGraw, a spokesman. Customer-service jobs are not affected.
JetBlue first detailed a cost-reduction plan in December 2016 that focused on four key areas and included efficiency measures such as offering more customer self-service tools, improving aircraft maintenance planning and consolidating or renegotiating various contracts.
The airline had about 17,530 full-time employees at the end of March.
-- Bloomberg News
Shell in talks to sell $2B in Nigeria assets
Royal Dutch Shell PLC is in talks to sell two Nigerian oil licenses in an area that's at the heart of environmental and human-rights controversies for $2 billion, according to people familiar with the plan.
The Anglo-Dutch oil company is discussing selling oil mining licenses 11 and 17 to Heirs Holding Ltd., a company run by Nigerian tycoon Tony Elumelu, the people said. Included in the sale are infrastructure assets such as a natural gas-fired power plant that would be managed by Transnational Corporation of Nigeria PLC, another company run by Elumelu, they said.
Exiting the two blocks would cut Shell's exposure in an unstable region of Nigeria. The company has sold billions of dollars of Niger Delta assets in the past decade amid local opposition, civil conflict, militant attacks and accusations of causing pollution. The latest sale would leave Shell to focus on its operations in Nigerian waters, where the risks of attacks on infrastructure and theft are relatively low.
Discussions between Shell and Elumelu have been advanced at times and run into hurdles at others as he is yet to secure financing, the people said. No deal has been reached and the talks could still fall apart, they said.
A spokesman for Heirs Holdings said she has no knowledge of the talks. Shell declined to comment.
Shell discovered oil in the Niger Delta in the 1950s and became among the biggest producers in the West African nation.
-- Bloomberg News
U.S. probes complaints on Ford engines
DETROIT -- Federal safety investigators are looking into complaints that engines on some Ford Escape vehicles can overheat and suddenly stall while being driven.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says in documents posted on its website Friday that it has 40 complaints from consumers about stalling, including two alleging that the engines caught fire.
The investigation covers about 127,000 Escape small SUVs in the U.S. from the 2013 model year that have 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engines.
Investigators will determine the cause of the engine stalling, how often the problem happens, which vehicles are affected and whether a recall is warranted.
Ford said in a statement Friday that it is cooperating with the investigation.
In one of the complaints involving a fire, an Escape owner in Dozier, Ala., reported that on June 6, the engine stalled while being driven, and the SUV coasted to a gas station, where it caught fire. There were no injuries.
Last year, Ford recalled more than 200,000 vehicles with the same-size engines because they can overheat and catch fire. But the 2013 Escape was not included.
Covered by the recall in North America are Escapes from the 2014 model year, plus the 2014 and 2015 compact Fiesta ST, the 2013 and 2014 Fusion midsize car and the 2013 through 2015 Transit Connect small van. Ford also conducted similar recalls in Europe and China.
-- The Associated Press
Nike says World Cup bet is paying off
Nike Inc. said it's getting a sales boost from the World Cup teams and athletes it sponsored, giving the U.S. company a tailwind in its race to catch up with Adidas AG in soccer.
The final, in which France beat Croatia, was the first ever with all 22 players wearing Nike jerseys, and most of them were in Nike shoes, the company said. Demand for the French team collection is "very high" following the win, said Bert Hoyt, who manages Nike's business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. England's warm-up jersey sold out almost everywhere, he said.
Nike had 10 teams in Russia, two fewer than Adidas, but had three among the final four. Among those wearing Nike shoes, Croatia's Luka Modric won the player of the tournament award, England's Harry Kane scored the most goals, France's Kylian Mbappe was best young player and Belgium's Thibaut Courtois was best goalkeeper.
"This continues the trend from the fourth quarter, when our global football apparel was approaching triple-digit growth," Hoyt said.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 07/21/2018