LOCAL BUSINESS
Job help offered
Openings are available in two free programs for job seekers offered at the Hudson Library & Historical Society this month.
Today, a 7 p.m. program is aimed at job seekers age 40 and older. The program, titled The Age Factor: Strategies for the Mature Job Seeker, will feature Michael Spiro, president of Midas Recruiting, an executive search firm that specializes in placement of sales professionals. Spiro is the creator of the blog Recruiter Musings (http://michaelspiro.wordpress.com).
At 10 a.m. Feb. 18, Diana Miller, founder and executive director of the Community Job Club, will talk about how resumes should reflect the field in which the job seeker plans to work. Her presentation is titled Developing a Value-Based Resume. The Community Job Club is a nonprofit career management organization. Miller also is a team leader/senior consultant for Ricklin-Echikson Associates Inc. and has consulted with government agencies.
Register for either program at www.hudsonlibrary.org and click on “Programs & Events/Registration” under the “Adult” tab.
BEVERAGE INDUSTRY
Coke moves on coffee
Coca-Cola Co. will buy a 10 percent stake in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, as it seeks to cement ties with the fast-growing coffee company. Under the terms of the deal, Coke will buy about 16.7 million shares in Green Mountain for about $1.25 billion. The shares were priced at $74.98 each, representing the volume-weighted average price for the last 50 days.
In return, Green Mountain will be the official maker of the soda giant’s single-serve cold beverages, built on its popular Keurig pod-based system. Some of the proceeds from the investment will go toward expansion of the Keurig Cold product.
EARNINGS
Twitter beats forecast
Twitter beat Wall Street’s earnings and revenue expectations in its first quarter as a public company. Twitter reported a loss of $511 million, or $1.41 per share, in the October-December quarter. That compares with a loss of $8.7 million, or 7 cents per share, a year earlier. Adjusted earnings were 2 cents per share. Twitter’s revenue more than doubled to $243 million from $112 million.
Higher Disney profit
Walt Disney Co. posted earnings and revenue for the holiday quarter that beat Wall Street’s expectations, helped by movie hits like Frozen and sales of its Disney Infinity console game. Net income in the fiscal first quarter through Dec. 28 rose to $1.84 billion, or $1.03 per share, from $1.38 billion, or 77 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding restructuring charges and other items, adjusted earnings came to $1.04 per share, beating the 92 cents expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue rose 9 percent to $12.31 billion, beating the $12.25 billion expected by analysts.
FOOD
New Subway recipe
Subway said it’s removing a chemical from its bread as part of an ongoing effort to improve its recipes. The announcement comes after a food blogger launched a petition this week asking the sandwich chain to stop using the ingredient. A representative for Subway says the change was under way before the petition was launched. Vani Hari, who runs the FoodBabe.com site, has targeted other food companies including Kraft and Chick-fil-A for the chemicals in their products. In the latest petition targeting Subway, Hari noted that the azodicarbonamide used in its bread is also used to make yoga mats and shoe rubber.
LEGAL
Chase settles charge
JPMorgan Chase & Co. has agreed to pay $1.45 million to settle a federal harassment lawsuit accusing the financial giant of a sexually charged work environment at a Columbus operation. The money will be shared among 16 female mortgage bankers who worked at a Chase call center. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said that sexually charged behavior and comments from the supervisory staff and participating mortgage bankers resulted in a sexist and uncivil atmosphere.
Compiled from staff and wire reports