Owners of Pyrex, Instant Pot to merge
NEW YORK -- The maker of kitchen classics like Pyrex and CorningWare is adding a new culinary darling, the Instant Pot, to its cupboard.
Corelle Brands, which owns Pyrex and other brands, said Monday that it planned to merge with Instant Brands, the Canadian producer of electric multi-cookers that have taken the public by storm.
Such is the popularity of the Instant Pot -- a sort of hybrid of gadgets like a pressure cooker and a slow cooker -- that it has legions of self-described "Pothead" fans online. An Instant Pot group on Facebook has 1.8 million members.
It was created by Robert Wang, a computer scientist who spent $350,000 of his own money trying to create a cooker that could handle several different tasks.
The Instant Pot went on sale in 2010. A confluence of factors -- its availability on Amazon, touting of technological advancements like sensors to help optimize cooking, relatively low price and popularity among bloggers -- helped make it a phenomenon.
Now Instant Pot's parent, which is based in Ottawa, Ontario, is itself set to become part of a much bigger company. Corelle, previously known as World Kitchen, was acquired by private equity firm Cornell Capital in 2017. It has 21 offices on three continents.
Corelle's chief executive, Ken Wilkes, said in a statement that Instant Brands and its products "have become a staple in kitchens in North America, fundamentally changing how consumers think about cooking."
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
-- The New York Times
S.D. chief hopes to stifle oil protests
PIERRE, S.D. -- South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said Monday that before construction begins on the Keystone XL oil pipeline, she's proposing legislation that would create a way to go after out-of-state money that funds pipeline protests.
The legislation would let the state follow such money and "cut it off at the source," the Republican governor said in a statement. Noem would also set up a fund to cover extraordinary law enforcement costs that could come with intense pipeline opposition.
"I'm a supporter of property rights, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. We should celebrate differences of opinion. But here in South Dakota, we will have the rule of law, because rioters do not control economic development in our state," Noem said.
Noem's bills come after opponents of the Dakota Access oil pipeline staged protests that resulted in 761 arrests in southern North Dakota over a six-month span beginning in late 2016. The state spent tens of millions of dollars policing the protests.
The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota said the legislation could infringe on free-speech rights.
-- The Associated Press
Philip Morris cuts outlook after ruling
NEW YORK -- Philip Morris International Inc. cut its 2019 profit outlook after a Quebec court ruling that's seen as threatening the tobacco industry's existence in Canada. The company and British American Tobacco PLC plan to challenge the decision.
The Canadian units of British American Tobacco, Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco Inc. were ordered Friday to pay damages of about $12.8 billion after losing an appeal of class actions filed by Quebec smokers.
If the tobacco companies lose this battle, cigarette makers will probably need to put their Canadian units into administration, according to Adam Spielman, an analyst at Citigroup. The companies face even more possible penalties as Canada's 10 provinces are also suing the tobacco industry to recover health care costs, he said.
The Quebec Court of Appeal upheld a lower-court decision with minor changes, according to the ruling released Friday. The lawsuits were in favor of smokers seeking damages for smoking-related diseases. The smokers argued they were never warned of the risks.
Philip Morris reduced its 2019 profit forecast by 9 cents, citing the decision. The company also warned that the "ultimate liability may differ significantly" from the amount in the ruling, because of a "significant lack of clarity" on the number of claimants and how their claims are being processed.
The decision comes a week after the U.S. Supreme Court turned away the tobacco industry's effort to derail lawsuits by thousands of Florida smokers. Tobacco companies have been undergoing a major shift as they try to lower their reliance on traditional cigarettes, seeking a future with alternative products as smoking demand wanes and countries tighten regulations.
-- Bloomberg News
Firm closes spinal clinics, lays off 500
TAMPA, Fla. -- A Tampa-based medical institute has closed its doors abruptly, laying off more than 500 employees nationwide.
The Tampa Bay Times reports the reason behind Laser Spine Institute's shutdown was financial. Only three years ago, the company spent $56 million opening its headquarters. It also has facilities in Arizona, Missouri and Ohio.
The company opened in 2005 and advertised minimally invasive spinal procedures, performing nearly 100,000 procedures for neck and back pain.
A recent court opinion on a 2006 lawsuit may have dimmed the company's financial outlook.
A group of doctors from a competing surgical center sued the institute's founders for breach of fiduciary duty, conspiracy, defamation, slander and tortious interference -- intentional interference with others' contractual relationships. They won, and an appellate court noted in December that the proper award amount falls between $264 million and $265 million.
-- The Associated Press
Electric Jaguar wins Car of Year award
GENEVA -- The electric Jaguar I-Pace won the Car of the Year award in Europe on Monday, the first time the storied British brand has been bestowed the prize just as Britain's exit from the European Union looms over the continent's auto industry.
The small SUV with coupe lines edged out the Alpine A110 sports car, which is not a mass production vehicle, after they tied for top honors in a first round of voting by dozens of automotive journalists. The Jaguar won a runoff.
Jaguar design director Ian Callum said the automaker, now owned by India's Tata Motors, sees electric vehicles as the future. He touted the new platform for the I-Pace and said the car showed how Jaguar can innovate.
The five other finalists were the Citroen C5 Aircross, Ford Focus, Kia Ceed, Mercedes-Benz A-class and Peugeot 508.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 03/05/2019