This morning, AMR, the company that owns American Airlines, announced it would file for Chapter 11 reorganization in the U.S. bankruptcy court in New York City, explaining, "We must address our cost structure, including labor costs, to enable us to capitalize on these foundational strengths and secure our future. Our very substantial cost disadvantage compared to our larger competitors, all of which restructured their costs and debt through Chapter 11, has become increasingly untenable given the accelerating impact of global economic uncertainty and resulting revenue instability, volatile and rising fuel prices, and intensifying competitive challenges." more ›

Your days of enjoying a combo plan of getting a disc or two via those red envelopes in the mail and streaming content from Netflix are numbered, kids. Starting September 1, the popular site is implementing separate plans for streaming and physical disc borrowing. more ›

Skype, the Internet communications company, is being bought by Microsoft for $8.5 billion. The software giant says, "The acquisition will increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications, bringing benefits to both consumers and enterprise users and generating significant new business and revenue opportunities." Of course, Wired notes that this is "the second time Skype has been bought out; after being started in 2003, it was purchasd by eBay in 2005 for $3.1 billion. eBay then sold the majority of its stake in 2009 to a private investment group for $1.2 billion less than it paid." more ›

It's a win for corporate welfare and a loss for Brooklyn: Panasonic has decided to move its headquarters—and its 950 jobs—from Secaucus, NJ to Newark, NJ, deciding against a Brooklyn property owned by Forest City Ratner. According to Crain's New York, "In the end, Brooklyn could not compete with a $102.4 million subsidy package offered to the consumer electronics giant to move to Newark." But it's not so cut-and-dry, because Panasonic's landlord in Secaucus and the town of Secaucus are suing! more ›

It's barely after 9 a.m. and many Americans have already gone to and come back from big retailers' Black Friday sales. Especially since some stores had their Black Friday sales start last night: One Queens resident was at the Times Square Toys 'R' Us, which was opening at 10 p.m.; she told the AP, "I thought, good, we'll come here and I won't have to go tomorrow," but then admitted she would also be getting up at 6 a.m. for more bargain hunting. more ›

On Thursday, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn basically killed the paid sick leave bill by saying she would not support the measure which would require small businesses (less than 20 people) to give employee five paid sick days while larger businesses would need to give 9 paid sick days. She explained, "It would be a great thing if we could mandate every worker got paid sick leave But if we do that and it causes people to in fact lose their jobs, what benefit have we actually forwarded?" more ›

The business-backed Partnership for New York City released a survey that shows the paid sick leave bill being proposed by the City Council will be expensive, costing businesses $789 million. It also suggests that many businesses (88%) already offer paid sick days—versus other claims that nearly half of businesses do not have paid sick days—thereby making the bill, in its current form, unnecessary. more ›

While the prudes in Sheepshead Bay may want to torch the sex shop that recently moved into the neighborhood, other parts of New York City welcome sex toy purveyors with open arms (and legs). According to the Daily News: sex sells! Still! more ›

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said at the Brookings Insitute today, "Even with the breakdown of private risk-management, the financial system would have held together had the second bulwark against crisis -- our regulatory system -- functioned effectively. But, under crisis pressure, it too failed." Bloomberg News says that Greenspan "said low interest rates weren’t to blame for inflating the bubble, placing the blame instead on regulators," "Even though for years our largest 10 to 15 banking institutions have had permanently assigned on-site examiners to oversee daily operations, many of these banks still were able to take on toxic assets that brought them to their knees." more ›

With Gov Paterson accused of improper conduct regarding the Aqueduct slots, his top personal aide—who was recently a subject of the Times’ “Bombshell” expose—is struggling to explain a football vacation funded by an NYC businessman. According to the Post David Johnson’s hotel bill, tickets to a Giant-Cowboy game and plane trip to Dallas (he flew coach) were all paid for by affordable-housing developer Jonathan Coren. By law, elected officials and their staff aren’t allowed to accept gifts from parties who seek their good graces. more ›

A day after the New York Times Co. shocked skeptics by revealing it actually turned a profit last year, it appears there might be more layoffs at Gray Lady. The Wrap reports that despite the paper's seemingly improving economic state, when asked whether there will be staff cuts in 2010 chief financial officer James Follo responded: "I think we would expect that to be the case, yes." It's not clear whether or not the cuts will be in the newsroom, which last year lost popular writers including Jennifer 8. Lee to buyouts, and others including trend piece extraordinaire Allen Salkin to layoffs. The paper is expected to introduce a controversial paywall on its website in 2010.
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Around 2 a.m. Wednesday, one Joseph Boyd, 46, sat down across from an unidentified teenager on the No. 2 train, exposed himself, and commenced masturbating, cops say. The gender of his 19-year-old witness hasn't been disclosed, but this person was uncomfortable with Boyd's indiscreet onanism, and voiced an objection. According to one account, Boyd fired back with the riposte, "I'm doing my business, you do yours!" Lazy kids. How would they like it if Boyd showed up at whatever fast food chain they work at and barked orders at them? The situation escalated when the pair exited the train at the Flatbush Avenue station, and Boyd allegedly threatened the teen with a pocketknife. But there happened to be a cop nearby, and he was swiftly arrested on charges of public lewdness and menacing. At press time, it was unclear whether his business was ever taken care. more ›

While a new Checker cab hasn't rolled off the line for nearly 30 years, and the iconic NYC symbols haven't actually been a part of the taxi fleet for nearly 10... the company has still been operating. CityRoom notes that they transformed into a manufacturer of car parts for General Motors, but this week, Checker Motors has called it quits after going bankrupt. 78-year-old owner David Markin told them: “It’s finished. Our family is very distressed about the closing of the company. But it became inevitable." His father Morris, a Russian immigrant, started the company in 1922. more ›

Fox says it's ready to pull its stations from Time Warner Cable lineups at midnight in its dispute with the cable operator over subscriber fees. News Corp president and COO Chase Carey wrote in a memo to staffers, "it looks like we will not reach an agreement and our channels may very well go off the air in Time Warner Cable systems at midnight [Dec. 31]," putting the 2010 fate of shows like American Idol, House and 24, not to mention sports programming like the Sugar Bowl, in jeopardy. more ›

Yesterday, former governor Eliot Spitzer spoke at Harvard University's ethics center to discuss big business and government, much to the dismay of one of the madams he used for his dalliances with escorts. He mostly discussed the economic crisis, but he did answer a question about the prostitution scandal that brought down his poltiical career. According to the NY Times, a man "with a long gray ponytail sticking out of his baseball hat," began, "I may sound like a conspiracy theorist," and then asked if there were "'ulterior motives' behind the timing of the disclosure of the prostitution ring that he said was leaked to the news media." more ›

A hedge fund founder and five other people were arrested in what the federal authorities say is the "biggest insider trading scheme ever involving a hedge fund" (NY Times) and the "biggest insider-trading ring in a generation" (Wall Street Journal). Those involved allegedly made $20 million on inside information about stocks like Hilton, IBM, Google and Advanced Micro Devices. more ›

Since Mayor Bloomberg was busy preparing for a mayoral debate and a standing agreement with the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board separates his private and political dealings, he wasn't involved when Bloomberg LP purchased BusinessWeek yesterday. But he thought it was a solid move on his media company's part, "I think it’s a great magazine." more ›

In its fall preview, New York magazine has assembled five different people—professors, economists, etc.—to give their thoughts on the future of NYC's economy—and it's helpfully arranged like a weather forecast, from "Those Clouds Still Look Ominous" to "Do I See Some Sun?" Here's a little from "The Storm’s Not Over Yet" prognosis (aka, glass is more half empty) from Independent Budget Office director Ronnie Lowenstein, "We’re expecting the city to lose a total of 250,000 jobs, and we’ve lost about half of that at this point. We are anticipating that we will continue to shed jobs through the second quarter of 2010... The financial sector is continuing to lose jobs, and because that remains the main driver for the local economy, that means nearly all of the other sectors of the local economy are shedding jobs as well. Credit remains very tight, and there’s a huge glut of unsold apartments, and that’s causing construction employment to plummet." Okay, let's just think about how the weather is nicer. more ›

New York magazine's cover story this week is titled "Is Goldman Sachs Evil? Or Just Too Good?", giving the once-over to the investment bank that just reported $3.44 billion in second quarter profits less than half a year after receiving $10 billion in TARP money from the government. The feature by Joe Hagan examines the bailout, the culture, and the firm's relationship with D.C. Then there are quotes like this one from former "Sheriff of Wall Street" and Love Gov Eliot Spitzer—"If all we are getting are newly empowered and capital-rich hedge funds that benefit from market volatility, then we are not only rebuilding the same edifice, but we’re contributing to the underlying rot in our economy"—as well as one from GS's communications director, "The cult of the individual, which I think has been a disadvantage to so many of the firm’s competitors, really doesn’t exist here. The more you have acceptance, the easier it is to be effective." And another Wall Street veteran puts it this way: "The god is Goldman. You subjugate yourself to that god, and in return we will make you a gazillionaire." more ›

The NY Times prefaces details about the second quarter of 2009 with this: "The good news is that Wall Street finished its best quarter in years on Tuesday — part of a dizzy spree that lifted the broad market 35 percent since early March. The not-so-good news? It would take almost three more rallies like that to push the Dow Jones industrial average back to 14,000 and return markets to where they were before the financial crisis." One analyst tells the Wall Street Journal, "The banks are making money the old-fashioned way, by making markets," but adds, "The pace is just not sustainable." So what's ahead? Some warn that the better returns may not be in the offing, because much of the system is bolstered by taxpayer aid; another analyst says the market will fall and rise within a certain range for a while, "Is the market still investable? Our answer is yes." In other news, ADP says that 473,000 jobs were cut in June; the number if higher than expected, which suggests "the labor market will be slow to improve even as other parts of the economy indicate the recession is abating." more ›

Six Flags Inc. declared for bankruptcy this morning after the company had been trying to clear its multi-billion dollar debt without having to go to court. New management took over the company in 2005 and began restructuring the theme park chain that has kept New Yorkers saving Coke cans for years in order to get discounted admission at Great Adventure in nearby Jackson, NJ. In the last few years, the company has sold ten parks, laid off 300 employees and instituted changes such as having more costumed characters and banning smoking in the parks. Recently they've gone so far as bringing back the nightmarish dancing speed freak, Mr. Six, the "old" man who seems to have found the courage to speak while he was away from the company. Six Flags's CEO Mark Shapiro said, “The current management team inherited a $2.4 billion debt load that cannot be sustained, particularly in these challenging financial markets." The latest snag for the company came when they had to temporarily shut down their Mexico City park due to swine flu. more ›

General Motors, an "icon of American business," has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this morning at US Bankrutpcy Court in New York's Southern District. The NY Times reports, "The company was forced into the filing by President Obama, who is betting that by temporarily nationalizing the onetime icon of American capitalism, he can save at least a diminished automaker that is competitive." more ›

Toys R Us has announced its purchase of FAO Schwarz. According to the AP, "Toys R Us will operate FAO Schwarz's flagship store in New York City and a second store at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. FAO Schwarz's Web site and catalog will continue to use the company's name." Toys R Us chairman and CEO Jerry Storch said, "We will work tirelessly to preserve the distinctiveness and integrity of the FAO Schwarz stores and brand as we grow the business and, indeed, take the brand to even greater heights." However, Storch did not details the financial agreement. FAO Schwarz has filed for bankruptcy protection twice and last year announced it would sell toys in Macy's stores. more ›

Yelp, the influential San Fransisco-based website that gives every Tom, Dick and Harry a forum to criticize everything from plastic surgeons to restaurants, has agreed to let small businesses publish their responses to criticisms on the site. Previously, businesses owners could only contact their haters directly or—more controversially—pay Yelp to bury negative reviews. But starting next week, businesses like this SF pizza restaurant will no longer be reduced to ironically printing quotes from bad reviews on their T-shirts. Come Monday, according to the Times, they'll be able to tell their side of the story of restaurants such as Otto Pizzeria, about which one Yelper opines: "The best part of the meal was when we walked outside and realized that we had just escaped HELL!" more ›

NYC businesses aren't the only ones threatening to leave for NJ—it turns out businesses all over the Empire State are threatening to leave for NJ and Connecticut! The NY Times looks at how NY is "Vulnerable to Poaching in Recession". While NJ and CT governments are offering nice deals, the Times adds, "some officials and business executives say the Paterson administration, reeling from a number of recent missteps, has been too poorly managed to respond effectively." One example: Pepsi, whose headquarters are in Purchase, was hoping that the Paterson administration wouldn't expand the bottle deposit requirements for non-carbonated drinks...only for Governor Paterson to expand the program and put a tax on non-diet sodas: "Now Pepsi is weighing a searing response: moving the headquarters of the Pepsi Bottling Group and more than 1,000 jobs, from Somers, in Westchester County, to Connecticut, which has been dangling a roughly $30 million incentive package." more ›

With intense concern over the city's economy, Mayor Bloomberg brought up one of his worries: How New Jersey is trying to poach NYC businesses. During his Friday segment on John Gambling's WOR show (listen), the Mayor said, "New Jersey has been going around to a lot of our New York City businesses, saying 'Taxes in New York are too high, move to New Jersey.'...There are a couple of these companies I am really worried might move. We're working very hard to convince them to stay." more ›

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was in New York City yesterday, meeting different parts of her new downstate constituency: Business leaders and those who know gun violence first-hand. more ›

The private research organization the National Board of Economic Research says its economists have confirmed the U.S. is in a recession--and has been in on since December 2007. The Daily News adds, "What will they tell us next - that oxygen is good for the lungs?!" more ›

According to research firm ShoperTrak, Black Friday sales increase 3% over last year. Still, ShopperTrak says that's the smallest gain for "Black Friday" (the day after Thanksgiving) sales in three years--2007 Black Friday sales were 8.3% higher than in 2006. And the data is also tempered by the fact that many retailers offered deeply discounted items, which cuts into their profitability. On the online sales side, Amazon and eBay say their sales jumped on Friday--Amazon says topsellers include the iPod Touch, Canon Powershot camera, and Nintendo Wii console whereas the Nintendo Wii was the most searched-for item on eBay--but both are forecasting weaker holiday sales. Additionally, with Thanksgiving falling late this year, there are five fewer shopping days this holiday season than last year. more ›

The new bike lane on Grand Street that a local shop owner recently called the possible "demise of Little Italy" continues to draw attention with complaints that fire trucks are struggling to maneuver around the new setup of the block. Ernest Lepore, owner of Ferrara Cafe who originally talked to Villager, appears to have taken his case against the lane to the Post, telling the paper, "I saw one truck back up four or five times before being able to squeeze into the lane. The firefighter was visibly frustrated." more ›