Tag Archives: business

Yesterday Gawker dug up an internal memo from American Apparel directing managers to send in photos of potential new employees so that anybody not up to their model-pretty standards could be immediately weeded out. One former manager tells Gawker about the kind of black girls she was instructed to hire: “None of the trashy kind that come in, we don’t …

Once again, ExxonMobil’s shareholders have voted overwhelmingly to exclude LGBT employees from its partner benefits program. The Dallas Voice reports: Only 22 percent of ExxonMobil shareholders voted in favor of adding the protections during today’s annual meeting at the Meyerson Symphony Center in downtown Dallas. Last year 40 percent of shareholders voted in favor of the proposal. About two dozen …

United and Continental Airlines have announced their intent to merge. The merger will create the world’s largest airline in annual passenger traffic. United’s name and Chicago headquarters will be retained, while Continental Chief Executive Officer Jeff Smisek, 55, will become the CEO and United’s Glenn Tilton, 62, will be non- executive chairman, the companies said today in a statement. Each …

Hewlett-Packard has bought struggling smart phone supplier Palm for $1 billion. The companies announced Wednesday that the deal will see HP pay $5.70 for every Palm common share. Palm had closed trading Wednesday at $4.63 but traded as high as $18.09 in the past 52 weeks. When debt is included, the deal values Palm at $1.2 billion. The transaction is …

Hertz is buying Dollar Thrifty for $1.2B as the consolidation of the car rental industry continues. The combined company will now have a single publicly listed U.S. company — Avis Budget to compete against. “Dollar Thrifty also has a strong international presence, complementing our global footprint, which enables us to utilize a recognized brand to accelerate our leisure rental strategy …

Maybe the economy isnt’ that bad if somebody can launch an all dog-and-cat airline. Pet Airways will fly a pet between five major cities — New York, Washington, Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles. The $250 one-way fare is comparable to pet fees at the largest U.S. airlines. For owners, the big difference is service. Dogs and cats will fly in …

FedEx has approved a shareholder resolution granting protection to transgender employees, raising the ire of Christianist news outlet One News Now. Without a vote from shareholders, one of America’s largest corporations has decided to grant its transgender employees special protected status. Memphis-based FedEx has agreed to implement a shareholder resolution proposed by Huffington Post blogger Sara Whitman that would add …

The New York Times is considering taking its site to subscription only at a cost of $5/month. Print subscribers would get online access for only $2.50/month. Times Co. is contemplating additional sources of revenue as marketers slow spending on the Internet. Ad sales at the publisher’s sites, also including about.com and boston.com, fell 8 percent and 3.5 percent in the …

Love the accent!

The NY Times takes note of the internet’s effect on porn production as studios now mostly create three minute vignettes suitable for net viewing. The pornographic movie industry has long had only a casual interest in plot and dialogue. But moviemakers are focusing even less on narrative arcs these days. Instead, they are filming more short scenes that can be …

Idaho local news discusses the recent decision by a water park not to extend the family discount to a gay family because they “aren’t real.”

If you paid Fly Clear the $199 annual fee so that you could avoid airport security shakedowns, you and several hundred thousand others are screwed. A major vendor that fast-tracks fliers through airport security for an annual fee of $199 will end operations tonight, according to its website and a former employee, leaving hundreds of thousands of customers in the …

Saying that putting the WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) logo at the top of their stationery “portrays the debtor as a sinner who is going to hell” and therefore violates the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, one debt collection agency is suing another and has filed a federal class action suit to force the removal of the logo. The agency …

Nestle has ordered a recall of all its Toll House cookie dough products after some customers contracted E. coli from eating the raw dough. In a statement, the FDA said there have been 66 reports of illness across 28 states since March. About 25 people have been hospitalized, but no one has died. E. coli is a potentially deadly bacterium …

Representatives of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce will ring the stock market’s closing bell today in recognition of Pride Month. The market closes at 4pm. For one special day, the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce®, NYSE Euronext, NGLCCNY, Members of Congress, other LGBT advocacy organizations, and corporate champions will gather at The New York Stock …

Oh man, does this ever ring true – especially if you’ve ever worked in advertising. (Via – See My Briefs)

McDonald’s has settled a complaint brought by the ACLU on behalf of five gay customers who were verbally abused by a restaurant staffer at a Louisville, Kentucky outlet. Nine months after an employee at a McDonald’s restaurant in downtown Louisville called a group of gay customers a series of anti-gay slurs, the American Civil Liberties Union announced today that McDonald’s …

Circuit City has begun their shutdown with 155 stores receiving notice over the weekend. No new stock will be delivered to the affected stores which will immediately begin “selling off” remaining items. Product warranties will be honored at other locations (although nobody knows how long the presently unaffected units will remain open). On Friday the New York Stock Exchange warned …

A broad coalition of Silicon Valley tech companies have formed “Silicon Valley Leaders Says No On Proposition 8” and will publish a full-page ad in tomorrow’s San Jose Mercury-News urging opposition to Prop 8. The honorary co-chairs of “Silicon Valley Leaders Say NO on Proposition 8″ include: Brin; Bill Campbell, Chairman, Intuit; David Filo, Founder, Yahoo; Chuck Geschke, Founder and …

The Equality Forum reports that 471 of the nation’s 500 biggest companies now include sexual orientation in their employment discrimination protections. That number represents a massive improvement from 2003 when only 323 companies did so. Almost half of the remaining non-compliant companies are headquartered in Texas. Those companies are on the chart to the left, ranked by annual revenue. It …