Bank of the Ozarks to release 1Q report
Bank of the Ozarks will release its first quarter earnings report today before the market opens.
Management of the Little Rock-based bank will conduct a conference call at 10 a.m. with analysts who cover the bank.
To access the call, dial (844) 818-5110 and ask for the Bank of the Ozarks call.
The average estimate of 11 analysts who follow Bank of the Ozarks is for earnings of 85 cents per share, based on a survey by Thompson Reuters. The low estimate is 83 cents per share and the highest estimate is 88 cents per share.
As announced during the fourth quarter conference call, management's comments on the first quarter will be released simultaneously with the earnings report. Those comments will be available via the investor relations page on the Bank of the Ozarks website, http://ir.bankozarks.com/.
-- David Smith
NAFTA chiefs to push for deal in Peru
The top NAFTA Cabinet officials from the U.S., Canada and Mexico plan to meet this week in Peru amid an accelerated push to reach a preliminary deal, according to three people familiar with the talks.
The meeting between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo is set to take place on the sidelines of a Western Hemisphere summit in Lima, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the negotiations are private. All three have confirmed their attendance.
President Donald Trump's administration's push to announce a framework NAFTA deal this week looks to have fallen short after the he canceled his trip to Peru as he readies a response to a chemical weapons attack in Syria. Vice President Mike Pence will attend instead. Guajardo on Monday said he sees an 80 percent chance of an initial NAFTA agreement by the first week of May.
-- Bloomberg News
Chicago Tribune staff seeks to unionize
CHICAGO -- A group of employees is seeking to form a union in the Chicago Tribune's newsroom, in what would be a historic move at the 171-year-old newspaper.
Organizers notified editors and sent a recruitment memo to staff members Wednesday, urging them to join the effort to form the paper's first newsroom union. The stated goals include regular raises, advancement opportunities, better parental leave policies and a more diverse newsroom.
But more than specific demands, the organizers say they seek to give voice to a newsroom buffeted by downsizing and shifting corporate leadership, most recently under Chicago-based Tronc.
"There's been a real sense of anxiety and instability, and frankly chaos, in the newsroom, particularly in the past few months," said Megan Crepeau, 29, a criminal courts reporter and eight-year veteran of the Chicago Tribune who helped organize the union effort. "I think that directly stems from our corporate ownership."
Last month, the Chicago Tribune began implementation of a newsroom reorganization that included layoffs.
-- Chicago Tribune
Madoff house on market for $21M
After Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme collapsed in 2008, the U.S. Marshals Service seized all of his family's assets, which included a relatively modest 3,000-square-foot beachfront home in Montauk, N.Y., on the easternmost tip of Long Island.
After a relatively brief time on the market the house sold for $9.41 million in October 2009 to Steven Roth, chairman and chief executive officer of Vornado Realty Trust, and his wife, Daryl, a Broadway producer. Proceeds of the sale went to help pay back Madoff's victims.
Roth renovated the house with the help of interior architect and designer Thierry Despont. Less than a decade after purchasing it, the couple has put it on the market for $21 million.
-- Bloomberg News
Google in talks to buy Nokia technology
Google is in talks to acquire Nokia's airplane broadband business as it seeks to tap into new services and reach more users by offering in-flight high-speed Internet, people familiar with the matter said.
Nokia's technology could help Google offer a faster alternative to existing Wi-Fi on airplanes, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. Talks are advanced and an agreement may be reached soon, the people said.
A final decision hasn't been made and the companies could still decide against a deal, the people said. Representatives for Nokia and Google parent Alphabet declined to comment.
Nokia's LTE A2G cellular-based system also creates a direct link between an aircraft and the ground instead of just bouncing the signal off of a satellite, enabling in-cabin high-speed Internet services using Wi-Fi, its website says.
-- Bloomberg News
Toys R Us gets bids for Asian business
Toys R Us Inc. has received multiple bids of over $1 billion from prospective buyers of its Asian business, a lawyer for the company said Wednesday in bankruptcy court.
The offers are for the 85 percent stake Toys R Us owns of its Asian unit, and would include intellectual property, according to the lawyer, Joshua Sussberg from Kirkland & Ellis.
Fung Group, a local partner of Toys R Us that owns 15 percent of its Asia business, has been working with Lazard Ltd. to solicit bids for the Asian unit. It has considered taking over the business itself, and has also helped solicit bids from potential buyers including Chinese private equity firms, according to people with knowledge of the discussions.
Toys R Us is in the middle of winding down its U.S. operations, after a failed attempt to restructure the business in bankruptcy and keep it operating.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 04/12/2018