End of an era: Circuit City closes Sunday night (Times-Dispatch)
At the retailer’s stores near Short Pump and at West Broad Street and Gaskins Road, the remaining merchandise was on shelves near the front of the store. The stores had a few speakers, some music CDs and movie DVDs, a handful of camera batteries, and some portable hard drives. Stacks of Norton Internet security software lined the shelves at the Gaskins Road store, selling for $19.99, down from $99.99. But the popular items — televisions, cameras, DVD players — were gone
Stalled Norfolk condo project faces foreclosure (Virginian-Pilot)
he unfinished $200 million condominium project Spectrum at Willoughby Point is facing foreclosure. The Futura Group LLC stopped work on the project a year ago. Now Wachovia Bank plans to foreclose on the Ocean View property by the end of the month, Rick Gregor, a managing partner with Futura, said Thursday.
Corporate America’s Icons Crumbling Under Global Recession (Washington Post)
The truisms have been familiar to generations of Americans: As General Motors goes, so goes the nation; Citigroup is too big to fail; General Electric, one of the 12 original companies in the Dow Jones industrial average in 1896, brings good things to life. But the giants that only recently seemed like the unshakable foundations of the economy are faltering one after another. The girth that once seemed a source of strength now appears to be undermining them.
Quiet Layoffs Sting Workers Without Notice (NY Times)
The notification law, known as the WARN Act, is a legacy of an era when the economy was more dependent on manufacturers and legislators were concerned about blue-collar workers being locked out of their factory. That kind of shutdown is hard to hide, while white-collar layoffs spread across many locations are not.
Small Businesses Find a New Source for Funding (WSJ)
Unable to get loans at banks, more small-business owners are turning to credit unions. Most credit unions didn’t get in on the subprime-loan market, so they’re not smarting from multibillion-dollar losses like many banks. Many also have extra cash because deposits increased in 2008 as more investors abandoned the stock market and sought greater certainty in savings accounts. So credit unions are more able — and willing — than most of their banking counterparts to dole out money to small businesses.
What to Do if Your Startup Is Failing (Business Week)
A lot of CEOs with less than 12 months of capital left in the bank have been asking me for advice about what to do, given the massive economic turmoil we’re facing. I thought I would take the time put these various conversations into one place to help those who are “up against it,” as we say in Brooklyn. The result is intended for the entrepreneurs behind startup companies who know in their hearts that their investors have lost faith, and that Google or Microsoft aren’t going to pick them up on a magic M&A carpet ride.
End of an era: Circuit City closes Sunday night (Times-Dispatch)
At the retailer’s stores near Short Pump and at West Broad Street and Gaskins Road, the remaining merchandise was on shelves near the front of the store. The stores had a few speakers, some music CDs and movie DVDs, a handful of camera batteries, and some portable hard drives. Stacks of Norton Internet security software lined the shelves at the Gaskins Road store, selling for $19.99, down from $99.99. But the popular items — televisions, cameras, DVD players — were gone
Stalled Norfolk condo project faces foreclosure (Virginian-Pilot)
he unfinished $200 million condominium project Spectrum at Willoughby Point is facing foreclosure. The Futura Group LLC stopped work on the project a year ago. Now Wachovia Bank plans to foreclose on the Ocean View property by the end of the month, Rick Gregor, a managing partner with Futura, said Thursday.
Corporate America’s Icons Crumbling Under Global Recession (Washington Post)
The truisms have been familiar to generations of Americans: As General Motors goes, so goes the nation; Citigroup is too big to fail; General Electric, one of the 12 original companies in the Dow Jones industrial average in 1896, brings good things to life. But the giants that only recently seemed like the unshakable foundations of the economy are faltering one after another. The girth that once seemed a source of strength now appears to be undermining them.
Quiet Layoffs Sting Workers Without Notice (NY Times)
The notification law, known as the WARN Act, is a legacy of an era when the economy was more dependent on manufacturers and legislators were concerned about blue-collar workers being locked out of their factory. That kind of shutdown is hard to hide, while white-collar layoffs spread across many locations are not.
Small Businesses Find a New Source for Funding (WSJ)
Unable to get loans at banks, more small-business owners are turning to credit unions. Most credit unions didn’t get in on the subprime-loan market, so they’re not smarting from multibillion-dollar losses like many banks. Many also have extra cash because deposits increased in 2008 as more investors abandoned the stock market and sought greater certainty in savings accounts. So credit unions are more able — and willing — than most of their banking counterparts to dole out money to small businesses.
What to Do if Your Startup Is Failing (Business Week)
A lot of CEOs with less than 12 months of capital left in the bank have been asking me for advice about what to do, given the massive economic turmoil we’re facing. I thought I would take the time put these various conversations into one place to help those who are “up against it,” as we say in Brooklyn. The result is intended for the entrepreneurs behind startup companies who know in their hearts that their investors have lost faith, and that Google or Microsoft aren’t going to pick them up on a magic M&A carpet ride.