Month: June 2016

Latest Headlines

Amazon wants Texas tax cut, as Trump slams Bezos anew; Haier paid $125M for Appliance Park, and much ado about new KFC pulled-porker down under in Oz

A news summary, focused on 10 big employers; updated 9:34 a.m.

AMAZON is seeking tax breaks for a proposed distribution center in Houston that would lower the retailer’s taxes there to 65% for 10 years, starting Jan. 1; Harris County officials meet today to consider whether to call a public meeting on the company’s request. The $136 million facility would create 1,000 jobs and construction would start in the third quarter (Houston Chronicle). Amazon already has at least one center in Houston; it opened in 2014. In the Louisville area, it employs 6,000 at two distribution centers. What it’s like to work in one of the centers.

Presumptive GOP White House nominee Donald Trump has renewed his attack on The Washington Post and owner Jeff Bezos, after the paper called him out for trying multiple times yesterday to quietly link President Obama to this weekend’s devastating attack in Orlando. Trump has revoked the paper’s press access to his campaign, saying Bezos is using the newspaper as his personal mouthpiece to gain tax advantages for Amazon. Bezos bought the paper from its long-time owners, the Grahams, for $250 million in 2013; he owns it separately from Amazon (The Verge). Also, Amazon is getting ready to roll out its second annual Prime Day, a special 24-hour discount extravaganza for Prime members that last year exceeded its Black Friday results. It was held in July last year; the company hasn’t set a date this year yet (Street Insider).

FORD has been much less visible than competitors in forging deals with Silicon Valley partners, raising questions about whether it’s getting left behind in the race for self-driving cars and other innovations. Talks with Google this year went nowhere, while Fiat Chrysler has already forged a relationship with that technology giant. Meanwhile, Ford’s experiments with on-demand shuttles and e-bikes have been overshadowed by General Motors’ Maven car-sharing and Toyota’s alliance with Uber (Hybrid Cars).

GE: We now know what Haier paid GE’s 61-year-old Appliance Park: $125 million, according to Jefferson County Clerk Office records reviewed by Business First. Overall, Haier paid $5.6 billion for the home appliances division in a deal completed last week.

Pulled Pork Burger
Exhibit A.

KFC: Some customers are confused and angry — and even angry about that anger — after the fast food restaurant famous for fried chicken launched a $6 limited edition burger with that other white meat: pork. The sandwich of pulled pork, coleslaw and barbecue sauce on a brioche bun is available across KFC restaurants in at least Australia starting today for the next four weeks (Emmanorris Blog and EFTM ). The Ozzie KFC division posted that video at the top of this page and the photo on the left.

News about the sandwich is spreading across Twitter, with many outraged or at least annoyed over the outrage:

Boulevard sees the Australian Mafia-of-one at work: Greg Creed has been leading a KFC makeover since become CEO of corporate parent Yum in January 2015.

TACO BELL: Our foreign news story of the day is about the Mexican chain’s move into Brazil next month in the megalopolis of Sao Paulo, just in time for the summer Olympics: “Taco Bell desembarca no Brasil ainda no segundo semestre” (Clica Piaui). For those who don’t speak Portuguese, Google Translate is your friend. Facing an increasingly saturated U.S. fast-food market, the Yum unit is ramping up overseas openings, expanding to 1,000 locations by 2020 from about 280 now (Bloomberg).

PAPA JOHN’S: Three men armed with a gun and a baseball bat robbed a driver at 10 p.m. Sunday night in Magnolia, Del., taking money and his cellphone (Delaware Online).

TEXAS ROADHOUSE is hiring in Knoxville and Alcoa, Tenn., at a job fair today (WVLT).

In other news, the newly opened Speed Cinema this weekend will present this year’s Sundance Short Film Festival Tour (Insider Louisville). And on Wall Street, U.S. stocks traded lower again right after the opening bell (Google Finance).

Latest Headlines

Amazon hit with proposed $350K fine for shipping hazardous package that hurt nine UPS workers

The Federal Aviation Administration’s penalty requested today is the largest the agency has sought against Amazon, which it says has had a series of at least 24 hazardous materials violations in recent years.

Amazing Fire drain cleanerThe FAA claims the retailer sent a UPS package on Oct. 15, 2014, with a one-gallon container of “Amazing! LIQUID FIRE,” a corrosive drain cleaner for transportation by air from Louisville to Boulder, Colo., according to an agency press release. The cleaner contains sulfuric acid, which can cause serious burns, including permanent blindness on contact.

The package leaked and nine UPS employees who came into contact with the cardboard box were treated after feeling a burning sensation, the FAA said. The agency didn’t say where the UPS employees worked, and it didn’t say how the drain cleaner arrived in Louisville. UPS has 22,000 employees in Louisville, making it the area’s single-biggest private employer.

Amazon declined to answer questions about the incident, according to Reuters, and UPS said the workers were fine after treatment.

The FAA said the shipment was improperly packaged, not accompanied by a declaration for dangerous goods, and not properly labeled to indicate the hazardous contents, according to an agency press release.

Boulevard found an identically described product sold by N.J. Wholesale Supply for $102 for a case of 12 32-oz. bottles. The company says in red, capital letters that it can only be shipped by freight. It contains sulfuric acid, according to the site. We also found it on Amazon’s website, but the product description doesn’t mention sulfuric acid. It advises buyers to “read the label for warnings and directions before using.”

In high concentrations, sulfuric acid can cause very serious damage upon contact, including chemical burns, permanent blindness if splashed onto eyes and irreversible damage if swallowed, according to Wikipedia, which cites chemical maker BASF.

The FAA didn’t detail any of the other 24 hazardous materials violations it said Amazon had committed. Amazon has 30 days from receipt of the FAA’s enforcement letter to respond to the agency.

Entrepreneurs

Schools claim freedom to study capitalism, even as big donor Schnatter praises ‘greatest mechanism’ to pursue happiness

Ball State University is the latest school to defend another multimillion-dollar gift from one of its most famous graduates, Papa John’s founder John Schnatter, to establish an institute promoting the virtues of free enterprise.

Schnatter and Koch
Schnatter and Koch.

School administrators offered similar assurances when Schnatter and the Charles Koch Foundation gave $12 million to the University of Kentucky in December and $6.3 million to the University of Louisville in March 2015, in both cases to launch free-enterprise centers. Ball State in Muncie, Ind., is getting $3.3 million.

The contract UK signed says the institute must support a “diversity of ideas,” according to the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. But it also says Continue reading “Schools claim freedom to study capitalism, even as big donor Schnatter praises ‘greatest mechanism’ to pursue happiness” →

Media and Marketing

Cowboy in tux“A tuxedo with work boots: All-new Ford F-Series Super Duty King Ranch Platinum Editions offer premium vinyl flooring option.”

That’s the headline from a Ford Motor press release this morning, promoting an option for customers wanting a $75,000 luxury truck that can double as a work truck “without fear of damaging the interior.” The photo, below, is the one the marketing department at the employer of nearly 10,000 Louisville workers suggested news outlets use — which, of course, is why we opted for the gratuitously hotter one, above.

Vinyl floor option

Food and Dining

Review: At this KFC in Orlando, the server was ‘definitely the most miserable’

An occasional look at reviews given to restaurants owned by Papa John’s, Texas Roadhouse, and Yum.

The location: 6217 International Drive, Orlando, Fla. The headline: “Lunch after wetnwild.” Number of stars: two out of five. The customer: TripAdvisor user loubiehigh of the U.K.’s Preston.

Anton EgoThe review: Although we don’t eat a lot of fast food at home, we do love the occasional KFC! Not in the US!!! The burger my husband had was half the size of a “zinger” which he would normally have. The popcorn chicken was better than home because the coating was more akin to the classic KFC chicken coating. Boys had the mash and gravy, and said the gravy was better than home, but disappointed you couldn’t buy this on its own. Wedges were good. Menu seemed limited; advertised some really hot chicken on the outside windows, but this didn’t seem available in the shop. Of all the Orlando residents/workers we came across the server here was definitely the most miserable. Chicken was over greasy.

Illustration, inset: That’s Anton Ego, the merciless restaurant critic in Pixar’s delightful 2007 “Ratatouille.” Here’s the trailer:

Latest Headlines

Ball State defends $3.3M from Schnatter-Koch; more Humana-Aetna op; Ford GT back at Le Mans, and Brits say KFC server in Fla. was ‘most miserable’

Latest headlines, focused on big employers; updated at 4:37 p.m.

Ford GT Le Mans
Ford’s new GT faces Ferraris and other top rivals at famous French race again. Thousands have applied to buy one of the $400,000 supercars.

PAPA JOHN’S: Ball State University deflected concerns over accepting a $3.3 million donation from Papa John’s founder John Schnatter and the Charles Koch Foundation, to promote free enterprise, saying it wouldn’t subvert academic freedom (Star-Press). The March donation is only the latest from the two men.

Schnatter and Koch
Schnatter and Koch.

They gave $12 million to the University of Kentucky in December and $6.3 million to the University of Louisville in March 2015, in both cases also to establish free-enterprise institutes. Administrators there offered similar assurances about academic independence. But a contract UK signed and Schnatter’s views on capitalism point to a possibly sharp collision of goals. Schnatter graduated from Ball State in Muncie, Ind., in 1983, and started his pizza company the following year.

GE: In Appliance Park, new owner Haier is getting a facility that’s completely rebuilt itself from years of outsourcing and offshoring,” said John Shook, CEO of the nonprofit Lean Enterprise Institute, which advised long-time GE owner in trimming management and tweaking production. “GE Appliances is a lean producer with an engaged leadership that has done an excellent job involving the union workforce to build in quality on the front lines (Benzinga). China-based Haier completed the $5.6 billion deal a week ago today; Appliance Park has about 6,000 employees making refrigerators and other home appliances.

HUMANA and planned acquirer Aetna face increased opposition to the $37 billion deal — as do merger partners Anthem and Cigna — from a new coalition of consumer and medical groups worried about the consolidations,  which would shrink the healthcare insurance market to three major insurers from five (CT Mirror). Aetna officials have said recently the deal is still on track to close in this year’s second half. About Humana.

Edsel Ford II
Ford

FORD: Unfortunately misnamed Edsel Ford II leaves tomorrow for Le Mans to watch the new Ford GT return to the legendary race against Ferraris, Porches and Aston Martins, starting Sunday. Ford, 67, a great-grandson of the company’s founder, visited the track with his father, Henry Ford II, in 1966 when he was a teen to witness the Ford GT40 place 1-2-3. “Fifty years have gone by fast,” he said. “Seems like yesterday I was there with Dad” (Detroit Free Press). The GT racing is based on the all-new $400,000 supercar unveiled in January. Le Mans history. Edsel Ford is a consultant to the company and member of its board of directors. At this year’s annual meeting, he faced the most resistance from shareholders re-electing directors, apparently over the $650,000 Ford paid him as a consultant. About Ford in Louisville.

Watch video of the 1966 race, and the new car:

KFC: Job recruiters want to talk to you if you have a “friendly attitude and positive demeanor” at an open house on Thursday (CraigsList). Elsewhere in Maryland, firefighters responded to a mulch fire early Saturday afternoon that spread to the exterior of a KFC; no injuries were reported. Why was there mulch so close? The news report is silent on that important question (Carroll County Times). More about KFC corporate parent Yum.

In top culture news, Broadway’s Hamilton won 11 Tonys last night, including best musical — just shy of the record of 12 won by The Producers. Tickets are impossible to get, as we discovered when we found one for a whopping $7,075 in a travel story last month.