BROWN-FORMAN: Retiring Director James Welch sold — sort of — 1,741 class A shares on Thursday at $105.17 each for a total $183,000, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In fact, the SEC Form 4 says, Welch surrendered the shares “to satisfy withholding obligations associated with the vesting of restricted stock upon [his] retirement” (SEC document).
PAPA JOHN’S and PIZZA HUT: A former executive at the maker of FarmVille online games has started a pizza restaurant in the heart of Silicon Valley where he hopes all pies will someday be made by robots. The process at Zume Pizza in California’s Mountain View involves two robots — named Marta and Bruno — that spread sauce “perfectly but not too perfectly, so it looks just like an artisan product,” says owner Alex Garden. The robots then move the pizza into an 850-degree oven to pre-bake. From there, the pizza is given a final bake in a bank of ovens inside the delivery truck on its way to a customer’s door. Traditional humans are still required for tasks like sprinkling cheese and driving the truck, however (Grub Street).
FORD‘s auto and truck factories in Louisville will shut down for only one week this summer vs. the usual two, because of unexpectedly strong demand for SUVs, and the need to gear up for launching the new 2017 Super Duty F-series truck later this year.
The company says it will crank out an extra 22,000 SUVs at the Louisville Assembly Plant and at two other sites in Chicago and Oakville, Ontario. Through May, SUVs sales totaled 325,475, a 9% increase from a year ago, including Escape, Edge, Explorer, Flex and Expedition. The 4,700-employee Assembly Plant closing will be the week of July 4. Ford had disclosed the SUV production increase to investors in its second-quarter production guidance April 28.
This is the fourth consecutive year the automaker has trimmed its summer shutdowns (press release).
The Kentucky Truck Plant employs 5,100, but that figure is growing substantially. In December, Ford said it would add 2,000 jobs and invest $1.3 billion there to produce the new F-series; it originally opened in 1969. The factory already produces F-250 and F-550 Super Duty pickups, plus Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator trucks. More about Ford’s history and operations in Louisville.
KINDRED: A jury in Nashua, N.H., yesterday cleared Kindred Healthcare and Greenbriar Terrace nursing home in the death of a Nashua man more than five years ago. Byam “Bing” Whitney Jr. died in 2011 after developing pneumonia and then bedsores that led to sepsis and his death at the age of 84 (Union Leader).
FORD: In a radical shift, Ford is repositioning itself in Europe’s small-car market by abandoning the minicar and focusing on subcompact buyers with a larger Ka and a more upscale Fiesta. The change highlights the automaker’s strategy of picking battles to win 6% to 8% profit margins for its European business (Automotive News).
Ruimin
GE: Haier Group CEO Zhang Ruimin was awarded the Legend In Leadership Award at the Yale University Chief Executive Leadership Institute Summit in New York City. The conference is organized by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the prominent senior associate dean for Leadership Studies at Yale’s School of Management; he is a much sought-after commentator on management issues (press release). Haier bought GE Appliances and 6,000-employee Appliance Park for $5.6 billion in a deal completed last week.
Delcid
PAPA JOHN’S: A 38-year-old San Antonio man was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison yesterday for killing a Papa John’s delivery driver in 2014. William “Jimmy” O’Neill, 46, had been delivering at an apartment complex when Robert Carlos Delcid stole his car and ran over him as he tried to stop the theft. O’Neil’s 86-year-old mother Edna O’Neill told the jury: “He was a good kid” who called her nearly every day, always ending the conversation saying, “I love you” (Express News).
PIZZA HUT: In Odessa, Texas, a gunman robbed a Pizza Hut Wednesday night, demanded money and fled; no injuries were reported (American).
Ramsey
In other news, University of Louisville Foundation vice chair Joyce Hagen paid virtually all the cost of a full-page Courier-Journal ad in April that lauded embattled school President James Ramsey, and blasted his critics on the board of trustees (Insider Louisville). Enormous craft beer restaurant HopCat expects to open in five weeks, assuming construction is done at its Grinstead and Bardstown roads location; it’s now hiring some 200 employees to handle the 132 varieties of beer (WDRB). And the news drought continues about Louisville native and Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence :(.
GE sold Appliance Park to Haier Group for five times what it claimed the complex was worth in 2013, when it won a dispute with Jefferson County over the southend property’s value, a dispute that ultimately reduced the taxes the conglomerate paid. At the time, GE said the complex was worth $23 million, nearly half the $42 million value assigned by Property Valuation Administrator Tony Landauer’s office (WDRB).
HUMANA beefed up security yesterday after reports of what some employees said was a threatening graffiti message written on a bathroom wall at the insurer’s Waterside building downtown, one the company seriously enough to allow employees to go home early. The FBI is investigating the incident, said WAVE. The threat may be related to annual gay pride events planned downtown this weekend. Several employees told WLKY the graffiti referenced last weekend’s mass shooting at an Orlando gay bar, where a suspected terrorist possibly inspired by ISIS killed 50 people and injured another 50 (WAVE, WLKY and Courier-Journal).
Yesterday’s incident came after authorities arrested a Jeffersonville man arrested in California who was heavily armed and headed to a gay pride event, plus reports of possible copycat threats at a New York gay bar and in the U.K. June is gay pride month in many cities, with parades and other public festivities (Courier-Journal, Time and BBC).
BROWN-FORMAN filed its annual 10-K report with the Securities and Exchange Commission this morning; as always, a key section describes the business itself. The filing came a day after the whiskey giant disclosed how much it paid CEO Paul Varga and other top executives, plus fresh details about the value of the controlling Brown family’s $6 billion in stock holdings (SEC document).
It costs $19.99.
PIZZA HUT‘S bacon-stuffed pizza has arrived in the U.K., but only for in-the-know customers. “To savour one of the new pimped-up crusts, all you need to do is whisper the secret words ‘Bacon Crust Have’ when ordering any large pizza (Mirror). Also, the chain has brought back its Triple Treat Box in a special summer edition, “a tri-level wonder decorated to look just like your favorite picnic basket” (Delish). It includes two medium one-topping pizzas, bread sticks and the just-introduced Ultimate Hershey’s Chocolate Chip Cookie (Brand Eating).
PAPA JOHN’S: In San Diego, no injuries were reported after an SUV crashed into a Papa John’s Pizza restaurant yesterday afternoon (KGTV).
TEXAS ROADHOUSE is looking for Baltimore area cooks “who are ready for a fun and rewarding career in the restaurant business.” Applicants are considered without regard to race, religion, color, age, gender, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, citizenship, national origin, or any other legally protected status (Craigslist). Apparently, gender expression hasn’t made that list — yet.
Adopt me, please!
UPS: In northern California, a UPS driver who happened to be on the scene rescued a crazy-cute puppy dumped Tuesday evening in the street by a passing vehicle. The Modesto Bee identified the driver as 39-year-old Jason Harcrow of Hughson. Police said the puppy, believed to be a Cairn terrier less than a year old, was in great spirits and would be put up for adoption at the county shelter (KPIX). The driver who abandoned the pup is expected to spend eternity in hell with tobacco lobbyists.
In other news, U.S. stocks closed slightly higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and other indices up less than 1% (Google Finance). Among Boulevard’s 10 big Louisville employers, Papa John’s performed best, closing at $65.89, up 2%. And on the A-list front, there was no news of any consequence about Louisville native and Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence.
Aetna’s headquarters building in Hartford, where it was founded in 1853.
A news summary, focused on big employers; updated 2:29 p.m.
HUMANA: Connecticut insurance regulators can’t require Aetna to maintain its headquarters in the state should the Hartford insurer’s $37 billion purchase of Humana go through as planned (Journal Enquirer). Last month, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini refused to rule out the possibility Aetna might abandon its historic Hartford corporate home, saying only that the deal’s terms required the company establish a presence in Kentucky. “The rest of all of our real estate is under review,” he told the annual shareholders meeting. Aetna has 6,000 employees in Connecticut. The merger, expected to close this year if it passes regulatory review, would double its workforce to 110,000; Humana has about 12,500 in Louisville. In San Antonio, meanwhile, Humana plans to hire 140 seasonal and permanent telephone salespeople, adding to the 1,050 already working there (Express-News).
AMAZON is reportedly launching a full-fledged music streaming subscription service for $9.99 a month, placing it in a head-on collision with established rivals Apple and Spotify and their 30-million song catalogs. Amazon already offers a limited music stream for its $99-a-year Prime shipping members. A full service would continue its drive to be a one-stop retailer for all goods (Reuters).
BROWN-FORMAN: Teenage binge drinking has sunk to the lowest level since a prominent survey began in 1991, newly released results show — positive news for an alcoholic beverages industry where Brown-Forman is a major player. The survey, conducted every two years by the Centers for Disease Control, analyzed more than 150,000 U.S. secondary students; it’s one of three sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services (Spirits Business). The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System survey also covers smoking, fighting, technology use while driving, and other risky behavior (CDC).
GE Appliances launched its FirstBuild micro-factory at the University of Louisville two years ago so engineers could prototype ideas with state-of-the-art machinery and a community of helpers; an explainer (The Atlantic). GE sold the residential “white goods” business and 6,000-employee Appliance Park to Haier last week for $5.6 billion; the 20-employee FirstBuild was included.
Mulally
FORD: Retired CEO Alan Mulally, credited with saving the Dearborn, Mich., automaker, will be inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame next month. Mulally, a Boeing executive before Ford, mortgaged everything — including the iconic Blue Oval logo — for a complete product portfolio overhaul to avoid a government bailout as bankruptcy loomed. General Motors and Chrysler went through bankruptcy. Mulally, 70, retired in 2014 and was succeeded as CEO by Mark Fields. Other hall of fame inductees will include auto safety advocate Ralph Nader, 82 (Detroit News). About Ford in Louisville.
PIZZA HUT: In Corpus Christi, Texas, three men stole a money bag from a Pizza Hut employee yesterday morning in a crime police say may be connected to others like it (KRIS).
What birds look like.
TEXAS ROADHOUSE: A pet yellow-naped Amazon bird named Emmett has been safely returned to his New Hampshire family after he was stolen Thursday night from their car in a Texas Roadhouse parking lot in Dewitt — and the finder turned down the $10,000 reward the family had offered (WSYR).
In other news, the Louisville Metro Council passed a critical ordinance granting Google Fiber a franchise for public right-of-way access to start installing hyper-fast Internet and data delivery service; Thursday’s passage had been expected (Business First). The service would provide speeds up to 100 times faster than conventional broadband, a huge economic recruiting tool that would elevate Louisville to the top ranks of high-tech cities.
Google Fiber’s website says the service is already in Atlanta, Kansas City, Nashville and Utah’s Provo — blue push pins on the following map. Louisville and other potential cities are identified with gray dots, and upcoming cities with purple:
Ali training at Churchill Downs in 1963 in recently surfaced photo.
A news summary, focused on big employers; updated 3:32 p.m.
BROWN-FORMAN reports fiscal fourth-quarter results tomorrow by 8 a.m. Analysts expect earnings per share of 72 cents vs. 66 cents a year ago, on $899 million in revenue vs. $947 million. There will be a conference call with management and analysts at 10 a.m.; details. Also, Newsweek magazine ranked the company the “greenest” beverage alcohol company among U.S. publicly traded firms (press release).
CHURCHILL DOWNS: Muhammad Ali is seen on a training run at Louisville’s iconic race track in a 1963 photograph that has just surfaced. It’s one of thousands photographer Curt Gunther took of the Louisville native during the years he accompanied the prize fighter in and out of the ring (CNN). Ali died late Friday in Phoenix at 74 after battling Parkinson’s disease for decades. The funeral he planned for himself in secret this Friday may be without precedent in recent Louisville history.
KFC: Chick-fil-A’s skip-the-line ordering app is no longer No. 1 in Apple’s App store, but it’s still holding a respectable No. 3 — enough to continue embarrassing rival KFC, which launched its own app the same day. More than 1 million people have downloaded Chick’s One app since it was announced last Wednesday. How they pulled it off (The Atlantic). In France, KFC says a video purporting to show a customer finding a whole, cooked chick in a bucket meal is a hoax; video of the alleged incident has been widely shared across social media (Express).
PAPA JOHN’S is offering pan pizza for the first time since 2005 in select markets, including parts of Kentucky; Evansville, Ind., and Denver (Courier-Journal). In Winston-Salem, N.C., an armed man robbed a Papa John’s Sunday at 3:40 p.m. after forcing an employee to open the cash registers. The man, said to be in his 30s, left after ordering the employee and two other workers to the back of the store (Winston-Salem Journal).
PIZZA HUT: A restaurant in Huron, S.D., was destroyed in a fire early Saturday morning the appeared to have started in the kitchen area (Plainsman). In New Zealand’s North Island, as many as three men armed with a machete robbed a Pizza Hut of $298 U.S. at 11 p.m. yesterday, leaving two employees shaken but unharmed. Police said the men were “heavily disguised” with balaclavas and one wore a hi-visibility vest during the incident in Palmerston North (News Hub).
In other news, U.S. stocks were mostly flat after government data showed first-quarter business productivity fell (Google Finance). The 11 big employers in the Boulevard Stock Portfolio were mixed; Ford was up 1.8% to $13.41 less than 30 minutes before the closing bell.
News about business and culture in Louisville, Ky.
AMAZON is reportedly launching a full-fledged music streaming subscription service for $9.99 a month, placing it in a head-on collision with established rivals Apple and Spotify and their 30-million song catalogs. Amazon already offers a limited music stream for its $99-a-year Prime shipping members. A full service would continue its drive to be a one-stop retailer for all goods (
Boulevard 