Month: September 2016

Latest Headlines

Louisville company stocks claw back losses from Friday’s rout; and Papa John’s apologizes over what it calls ‘extremely insensitive’ 9/11 promotion in Ohio

A news summary focused on 10 big employers; updated 4:42 p.m.

Nearly all the local companies tracked by Boulevard bounced back from steep losses last week, when markets swooned amid growing concerns about the direction of interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which lost nearly 400 points Friday, closed up 240 points this afternoon, or 1.3%, to 18,325. The broader S&P 500 index ended the day at 2,159, up 1.5%.

Here’s a list of the 10 companies in Boulevard’s Stock Portfolio, with today’s closing prices:

In other news, Papa John’s apologized after a Cleveland franchise used an “extremely insensitive” promotion yesterday tied to the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The promotion was called “9/11 Remembrance” and underneath a picture of pizzas it read: “Never Forget, In Memory of Those We Have Lost, United We Shall Always Stand! Enjoy ANY LARGE PIZZA for $9.11.” The corresponding promo code was listed as “911RMBR” (Cleveland 19).

Investing

Dow plunges 394 points on renewed interest-rate fears, and Louisville company shares drop, too

Today’s tumble followed hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials and a slump in oil prices, dragging down the overall market, according to MarketWatch. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18,085, down 2.3%, and the broader S&P 5oo index closed at 2,128, down a steeper 2.5%.

Among company shares tracked by Boulevard, all but one — Humana’s — fell sharply, with Amazon leading the way:

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Still, even after today’s plunge, stock markets overall are higher than a year ago. The Dow is 12% higher, and the S&P is up 11%, according to Google Finance.

Diversions

Miss Kentucky competed for the Miss America title Sunday on an unlikely campaign platform: eating disorders (plus other fun contest facts)

Updated: Last night, Miss Arkansas won the annual Miss America contest between 52 contestants (you’re maybe forgetting D.C. and Puerto Rico). Miss Kentucky, Laura Jones of Danville, finished among the top 15 finalists before being eliminated. Here’s my original post:

By Jim Hopkins
Boulevard Publisher

Miss Kentucky is Laura Jones of Danville, a 23-year-old graduate of Kentucky Christian University, where she earned a degree in university studies and biblical studies, with a minor in counseling psychology. She plans to become an eating disorders counselor and life coach, following her own struggles with an eating disorder.

miss-kentucky-laura-jones-150
Jones

Jones spent 10 years on the pageant circuit, winning the state contest July 2 in Lexington on her fourth try. “I just felt such a sense of peace through the whole process,” she told the Lexington Herald-Leader moments after being crowned. (The paper noted that she spoke with “a fake eyelash coming loose from an avalanche of tears.”) On Sunday, she will play a violin solo for the talent portion.

The non-profit Miss Kentucky Scholarship Pageant Inc. has an annual budget of about $169,000, according to its most recent public IRS tax return. Most of that, nearly $94,000, went toward staging the contest itself. By contrast, Mississippi — which has won the national contest four times — spends $636,000 annually.

Kentucky has had only one Miss America winner: Heather Renee French Henry, in September 1999. Six other states have also won just once: Connecticut, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina and Oregon. Four states have tied for the most winners (six each): California, New York, Ohio, and Oklahoma. (This list shows winners by state, including the 19 that have never won.)

Henry’s win was the top story on The Courier-Journal’s front page the next day (photo, top). Here’s the moment when she won:

The Miss America Organization’s annual budget was $8.3 million in 2014, according to its most recent tax return. The TV production was the biggest expense: $4.6 million; Miss America herself got paid $305,000. Legal expenses inexplicably totaled Continue reading “Miss Kentucky competed for the Miss America title Sunday on an unlikely campaign platform: eating disorders (plus other fun contest facts)” →

Latest Headlines

KFC puts $218M U.S. advertising media buying account up for grabs; Papa John’s loses Rupp Arena rights, and more drama engulfs UofL Foundation

A news summary focused on 10 big employers; updated 3:23 p.m.

KFC is looking for more bang for its bucks in a just-launched review of its U.S. spending for advertising and marketing across all channels, including print, broadcast, digital and social media. The review, which in theory could end with the chicken-chain keeping its current agency for the work — ad and marketing giant WPP’s MEC unit — doesn’t include creative work now being done by Wieden & Kennedy since 2015; that agency is responsible for the current campaign of rotating actors and comedians portraying a resurrected Colonel Harland Sanders. KFC’s U.S. division said it’s looking for an agency “capable of deploying innovative media strategies while leveraging cost efficiencies and maximizing return on investment” (AdAge). KFC just launched its latest Sanders TV commercials, featuring a fictional Kentucky Buckets pro football team.

PAPA JOHN’S has given up concession rights at Rupp Arena in Lexington starting this fall, and will be replaced by Hunt Brothers Pizza (Herald-Leader).

jack-daniels-150th-anniversary-whiskeyBROWN-FORMAN‘s Jack Daniel’s has unveiled a new version to celebrate its major birthday this year: Jack Daniel’s 150th Anniversary Whiskey, which is priced around $100 per one-liter bottle (The Whiskey Wash). Jack Daniel’s is the top seller among Brown-Forman’s 19 brands of spirits and wine.

UPS: Utah is giving UPS $5 million in tax incentives for the shipper’s plan to build a $200 million regional package operations center at a yet-to-be-determined site in the state that will create nearly 200 jobs (Salt Lake Tribune). UPS is the single-biggest private employer in Louisville, with 22,000 workers at it Louisville International Airport hub.

TEXAS ROADHOUSE is opening a Bubba’s 33 in east of Dallas in Mesquite as the Louisville-based steakhouse chain expands its new sports bar division. First launched in Fayetteville, N.C., in 2013, there are now a dozen Bubba’s locations, including outlets in Houston and Waco (Culture Map Dallas).

In other news: the University of Louisville board of trustees, escalating its battle with the independent UofL Foundation, today approved a threat to sue the foundation unless it accedes to demands to clean up its act. Board of Trustees Chairman Larry Benz said as many as 70 donors have called the university over the past few days to say they won’t give any more money unless the foundation shows that it is “clean” (Courier-Journal). Those donors’ threats followed similar ones last week by the James Graham Brown Foundation and the C.E. & S. Foundation led by Humana co-founder David A. Jones Sr.

Sporting Scene

Just 239 days, 10 hours, and 57 minutes: When life hands you lemons…

. . . console yourself with dreams of the 143rd Kentucky Derby! It’s now fewer than 34 weeks away until May 6, 2017, according to our exclusive 2017 Derby Countdown Clock™. Until then, here’s one of this year’s high-profile guests from the first Saturday in May, CNN anchorman Don Lemon.
Embed from Getty Images

Cops and Courts

Colorado Springs police release 312-page report on fatal July shooting outside Taco Bell

The latest crime news across the world of 48,000 restaurants*.

Crime scene tapeNeighbors painted a conflicting picture of 80-year-old Jack Rogers, who fatally shot 23-year-old Jesse Garcia on July 17 with a semi-automatic handgun in a Taco Bell parking lot, according to a 312-page case file Colorado Springs Police Department released yesterday.

Charges were not filed against Rogers following the road rage-related shooting, a decision that was made July 28, according to the case file, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.

* Yum has 43,000 KFCs, Pizza Huts and Taco Bells in nearly 140 countries; Papa John’s has 4,900 outlets in 37 countries, and Texas Roadhouse has 485 restaurants across the U.S. and in five other nations. With that many locations, crimes inevitably occur — with potentially serious legal consequences for the companies.