Founder of Arkansas-based Core Brewing stepping down as CEO

Empty boxes await bottles at Core Brewing and Distilling Co. in Springdale.
Empty boxes await bottles at Core Brewing and Distilling Co. in Springdale.

Jesse Core, founder of Springdale-based Core Brewing Co., is stepping down as chief executive officer and a company insider is moving up to take his place.

On Thursday, the beer company said Christopher Reed, the head of Core's sales and marketing division, will take over as CEO and handle the company's day-to-day operations. Head Brewer Ron Schmidt was promoted to head of operations and Rodrigo Medina will move into the head brewer post.

Jesse Core will serve as the chairman of the brewery's board of directors and focus on special projects, investor relations and brand ambassadorship, according to a release. The company also added Bernie Adcock, a top Tyson Foods executive and Rich Pascucci, former growth officer at Pabst Brewing Co., to the Core Brewing board of directors.

Core Brewing Co. was Arkansas' second-largest beer producer in 2017 with 4,409 barrels, or about 11 percent of all beer brewed statewide, according to state records. A barrel of beer is 31 gallons.

Core recently signed a distribution deal with Dallas-based Glazer's Beer and Beverage. In addition to its sale of beer in cans and kegs, Core operates nine Core Public Houses throughout the state.

-- John Magsam

Wells Fargo announces workforce cut

NEW YORK -- Wells Fargo plans to cut up to 10 percent of its workforce over the next three years, the bank announced on Thursday, which will result in thousands of job losses for employees of the nation's third-largest bank.

Wells Fargo & Co. Chief Executive Tim Sloan made the announcement to employees on Thursday. The bank currently employs roughly 265,000 workers, and plans to cut its headcount through both attrition and layoffs.

The San Francisco-based bank has been under multiple clouds of scandal starting in 2015 when it admitted its employees opened millions of fake bank accounts for customers in order to meet unrealistic sales goals. Wells has since tried to make amends with the public and its customers, but every time it seems like Wells has put one scandal behind it, another pops up in its place. Since that admission Wells has admitted to other scandals, including selling auto insurance to borrowers who did not need it and selling high-cost wealth management products to customers who also did not need them.

State and federal regulators, who have clearly lost patience with Wells' pledge of making amends, have put restrictions on Wells' business and have fined the bank more than $1.2 billion in penalties for its bad behavior. The Federal Reserve went further earlier this year, forcing Wells to not grow any larger from its current size until it says otherwise.

-- The Associated Press

Average long-term mortgage rates rise

WASHINGTON -- Long-term U.S. mortgage rates are up for the fourth consecutive week, with the key 30-year rate reaching its highest level since May.

Costs for would-be home buyers continue to climb. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages jumped to 4.65 percent, from 4.60 percent last week. The average rate has increased from 3.83 percent a year ago.

The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate loans rose to 4.11 percent this week from 4.06 percent last week.

The primary factors driving rates higher include the strong economy, trade tensions between the U.S. and other countries, and the U.S. government stepping up sales of its debt, according to Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater.

The expanded U.S. debt sales suppress Treasury bond prices and push their interest rates higher. The yield on the key 10-year Treasury note has been running above 3 percent, approaching a seven-year high. The yield jumped to 3.08 percent Wednesday, from 2.96 percent a week earlier. It held at 3.08 percent Thursday morning.

-- The Associated Press

Another airline raises checked-bag fees

FORT WORTH -- American Airlines said Thursday that it is raising fees for checking bags by $5 apiece each way, matching Delta and United.

The first bag is now $30 and the second is $40. Those are each way, so checking two bags on a round trip will cost $140. High-spending frequent flyers and customers who book with the airline's credit card typically avoid the fees.

JetBlue, Air Canada and WestJet also have raised bag fees. Southwest lets customers check one or two bags free.

-- The Associated Press

Adobe to buy software-maker for $4.75B

Adobe Systems Inc. agreed to acquire software-maker Marketo Inc. for $4.75 billion, bolstering its marketing tools in a bid to compete against Salesforce.com Inc. and Oracle Corp. in a fast-growing business.

The deal, which would be Adobe's largest ever, is expected to close during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018, the San Jose, Calif.-based company said Thursday in a statement.

Adobe, the maker of image-editing tool Photoshop, has sought to develop a software suite that includes advertising, analytics and e-commerce programs. Adobe purchased Magento Commerce for $1.7 billion in June to enter the market for e-commerce. Marketo, owned by Vista Equity Partners LLC, provides one of the last pieces of that puzzle.

Marketo sells marketing software that companies use to identify and reach new customers through email, text messages, social media and other channels. It also offers analytical services, and is particularly strong in helping businesses market to other businesses.

-- Bloomberg News

Sky purchase to be decided by auction

LONDON -- Comcast and 21st Century Fox will settle their battle for control of broadcaster Sky through a rare auction designed to put an end to months of offers and counteroffers from the American media empires seeking a foothold in the European pay TV market.

The auction will begin after the London stock market's close today and end sometime Saturday evening following a maximum of three rounds of bidding, said Britain's regulator, the Takeover Panel.

Fox has long been trying to acquire the 61 percent of Sky it doesn't already own. A bidding war emerged last December, when Comcast made an offer for Fox's entertainment assets, which Disney is in the process of buying for about $71 billion. Comcast eventually dropped out of that contest to focus on its acquisition of Sky.

The regulator said it called the auction "to provide an orderly framework for the resolution of this competitive situation."

-- The Associated Press

Business on 09/21/2018

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