Crain's New York Business ©     Coverage   Help   Search Westlaw   Date: November 16, 2009November 9, 2009November 2, 2009October 26, 2009   Section: AllLegal NewsAntitrustBankruptcyE-CommerceEnvironmental LawEstate Planning and ProbateHealth & MedicineIntellectual PropertyLabor & EmploymentLitigationMergers & Acquisitions Comcast's Roberts no Jerry Levin Merger with NBC would add content, as cable market slows The past two months have been expensive ones for Brian Roberts. Since news leaked in September that the Comcast Corp. chief executive was looking to acquire NBC Universal, his company has lost 15% of its market value. His good name has also taken a h.... JAVANKA! Newlywed real estate scions Jared & Ivanka look to escape their famous fathers' shadows It seems to be a match made in real estate heaven for two survivors of tabloid hell. Freshly wed Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are both third-generation scions of rich and infamous real estate clans who've endured having their fathers' worst moments.... Huh? NYC work force expands in recession 'Unusual,' economists say-and explanations may surprise you Diabetes forced Kemeisha Grizelle out of the work force two summers ago, but the recession thrust the 29-year-old back in. The Bronx resident's fiance lost his job of 18 years as a janitor at St. Bartholomew's Church in midtown last spring and has ha.... IN BRIEF THE BRONX WAS THE ONLY BOROUGH IN THE CITY TO RECORD AN INCREASE IN EMPLOYMENT in the first quarter compared with the year-earlier period, growing by 1.1%, or roughly 2,200 jobs, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic.... Coach goes digital, skews younger Makes big splash on Facebook, Twitter; sales, stock up as rivals flounder This Friday, luxury handbag purveyor Coach Inc. will kick off its holiday marketing push. The timing is typical, but the medium most definitely is not. Instead of focusing ad dollars on traditional media like newspapers and television, Coach is going.... Developers dodge blow as FHA loan program rolls on Feds decide not to tighten standards even as home prices fall, losses rise Last week, developers across the city dodged what could have been a lethal blow when federal authorities decided against tightening a loan program that has become a lifeline for many of them. For months, it had been feared that the U.S. Department of.... SEC reg recipe for poor returns? Ban on third-party placements could hurt public pension funds, some claim In the wake of a kickback scandal at the New York State Common Retirement Fund, both the state and city comptrollers, along with federal regulators, took swift action to crush future pay-to-play incidents. Perhaps too swift. Overseers of the state's .... Art market shows signs of new life Auctions bring high prices; galleries say U.S. buyers are back The picture is looking prettier for the beleaguered art market. The important fall evening sales at Christie's and Sotheby's that ended last week fetched a total of $423.9 million, a whopping 40% increase from the previous round of evening sales in N.... IN THE MARKETS Investors, meet the new AOL Welcome back, AOL. The online media company is finally breaking free from parent Time Warner and is expected next month to begin trading publicly again for the first time since 2001. Of course, almost everything has change.... NEW YORK, NEW YORK Latest thriller: e-book sales Author Dan Brown may not be lifting the book industry with sales of The Lost Symbol, as insiders had hoped he would, but he is lifting Random House's e-book numbers. According to an internal Random House report, sales of.... POLITICAL STAR POWER JON BON JOVI (left) will perform on Dec. 17 at a 52nd-birthday fundraiser for state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (right), a potential candidate for governor in 2010, at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers. Tickets to the 8 p.m. event begin at $1,00.... SICK DAYS Biz goes on the offensive BUSINESS IS TAKING TO THE STREETS-literally-to protest a City Council bill that would force New York employers to give workers as many as nine paid sick days per year. The city's five main chambers of commerce have banded together for the first time .... THE INSIDER Paterson burns cash on ads The paterson campaign's multimillion-dollar ad buy would seem a bit much for a candidate who has had trouble raising money. Indeed, it could eat up half of Gov. David Paterson's war chest ($5.4 million as of July 11) a full.... Test of fellowship in Bronx community Mosque's request to broadcast call to prayer four times a day spurs debate The demographics in the Bronx neighborhood of Unionport have been quietly changing for years-changes that are reflected in its houses of worship. Today, Catholic churches in the predominantly Hispanic and black neighborhood are outnumbered by small P.... The future of the Bronx Last week, Costco opened its first warehouse store in Manhattan amid a torrent of publicity. The chain operates outlets in Brooklyn and Staten Island and is about to open its second Queens location. Who is missing from this list? The Bronx, of course.... CRAIN'S ONLINE POLL WILL NEW YORK STATE PASS GAY MARRIAGE LEGISLATION THIS YEAR? Date of poll: Nov. 11 272 votes Yes. After Albany agrees to a budget, legislators will vote to allow same-sex marriages. No. With all the other problems the state has right now, gay marriag.... 2 crucial missions for the last term Mayor bloomberg was criticized for failing to offer a vision of what he wants to accomplish in his third term. Perhaps it's because the next few years will be a budget nightmare. Tax revenues have plummeted as the city has shed a little more than 110.... Currency trader cashes in Currency trading firm FXDD signed a 13-year sublease at 7 World Trade Center. The asking rent for the deal, which covers 41,000 square feet, was $65 a square foot. The company currently shares space with Tradition North America at 75 Park Place. Trad.... Landlord's artful coup The finance office of the government of Brazil is moving its New York City branch one block west into bigger space. It has signed a 15-year lease for 13,000 square feet at 1180 Sixth Ave. The government office will leave its current 9,000-square-foot.... For rent: fab spaces for confabs Unnoticed among the acres of available office space in Manhattan are scores of posh executive dining rooms and conference rooms sitting unused. And that's where Sentry Centers comes in. The company plans to lease them and turn them into for-hire conf.... Young people are primed for startups Entrepreneurship among teenagers a key component of business events When Amanda Loyola's dog died of cancer, the 16-year-old set to work researching possible causes. What she found-that some studies have linked red meat to the disease in pets-led to EcoDog Treats, Ms. Loyola's vegetarian dog snacks company. "It's nev.... Crafting ways to save for holidays Texas-based retailer invades Manhattan with do-it-yourself clothing, accessories Do-it-yourself devotees, intent on saving money this holiday season, have a new place to scoop up materials for their feathered headbands, embellished blazers and home decor wreaths. Michaels Stores Inc., an Irving, Texas-based chain known for its ar.... NY firms shop for bargains to grow The world's still turning, and M&A's back; cash, creativity needed Starpoint solutions weathered a sales slump recently, but that hasn't stopped Chief Executive Jeff Najarian from pulling the trigger on growth plans for his full-service staffing firm. The Manhattan company is ready to close two deals to purchase sma.... MAYOR MIKE VOTES FOR MORE MEDIA The financial information on Bloomberg's terminals is such catnip that traders are said to step away from them only after they lose their jobs. Now Mayor Michael Bloomberg's company wants to make itself just as indispensable to the broader public. Th.... DRUG SUPPLIER HAS RX FOR SUCCESS Being headquartered just four miles from the epicenter of the city's swine flu outbreak might worry lesser chief executives, but not Stewart Rahr, CEO of Kinray Inc. The pharmaceutical supplier was one of the few in the country with Tamiflu inventory.... SIGNED, SEALED AND DELIVERED Of all the companies to claim that their ideas "push the envelope," this one is definitely understating it. Uniondale, L.I.-based National Envelope Corp. pushes 180 million envelopes per day out of its factories in the U.S. and Canada. In spite of th.... RECRUITER SEEKS-AND FINDS A few high-profile executive searches lately have given the suits at recruiter Russell Reynolds Associates reason to hope. The firm, perhaps best-known for its work placing financial executives, has been tapped to help Bank of America replace CEO Ken.... BAD NEWS FOR BAD BOY OF HIP-HOP INC. When bad boy worldwide Entertainment Group's founder, hip-hop impresario Sean "Diddy" Combs, dropped Warner Music Group as his personal label in September, industry followers questioned the fate of Bad Boy. It turns out Bad Boy will remain a Warner M.... MEAT DISTRIBUTOR BUILDS ITS MUSCLE Nebraskaland inc. may sound like fodder for a theme park parody, but the company is in fact one of New York's largest meat distributors, operating out of a $5.6 million, 3.3 million-cubic-foot facility at Hunts Point Cooperative Market in the South B.... FOR THE RECORD ABOUT THIS SECTION FOR THE RECORD is a weekly listing of information from the public record that can help businesspeople find opportunities in the New York area by providing leads on clients, potential new business and competitors. To ask questions o.... EXECUTIVE MOVES Cain Brothers & Co.: Robert J. Fraiman Jr., 51, was promoted to president and chief executive at the investment bank. He continues as head of the corporate finance group. Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton: Robert S. Friedman, 45, joined as a partner .... Flourishing in a merger of two cultures IT'S A TRUISM BY NOW: The biggest reason most mergers yield ho-hum results, or crash and burn, is because their corporate cultures clash, and the risk of a mismatch is even greater when the companies concerned are based on opposite sides of the globe.... Dogs' Best Friend Rain, shine or blizzard, Lisa Chang is in Central Park from morning to night, walking 14 dogs a day. She rarely stops for lunch. She never calls in sick. And if a client needs her on the weekend, the 45-year-old is there. ¶ "I couldn't leave the dogs.... HOT JOBS PRESIDENT AND CEO ORGANIZATION Seedco JOB DESCRIPTION Provide leadership for the national nonprofit; raise its visibility with funders and policy makers MOST IMPORTANT TASK Grow Seedco's national impact and operational sophistication CREDENTIALS NEED.... Much more than lip service Estee Lauder exec takes on AIDS fund as his pet charity When estee Lauder acquired MAC Cosmetics in 1998, the company inherited the fledgling MAC AIDS Fund. Instead of closing it down or just paying it lip service, John Demsey, the 53-year-old group president for Estee Lauder, became chairman of the chari.... MUSIC EXEC SCORES PROMOTION CAMEO CARLSON, 38, was promoted to executive vice president of Universal Motown Republic Group. She was most recently senior vice president of digital business development. Ms. Carlson has been with the company since 2007 and has helped boost mobile .... THE WEEK ON THE WEB NOV. 9 - 15 Breathing sigh of relief Last week's aquittal of two Bear Stearns hedge fund managers on fraud charges is the best news that the former leaders of Lehman Brothers and American International Group have heard in a long time. Like Bear money managers Ra.... THE WEEK AHEAD NOV. 23 - 29 CONFERENCES TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24 Join A CAREER CHOICE for a breakfast on building your resume to its greatest potential from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Executive Suites at the Hippodrome, 1120 Sixth Ave., fourth floor. Fees are $25 in advance and $30.... WHAT SHE'S READING SARA NELSON, who was recently named books director at O, the Oprah Magazine, reads for a living-getting through two titles a week and skimming countless others. But that doesn't mean she can't get excited about a book. Right now, she's enthusiastic a.... Big development hit with Stuy-Town ruling fallout The fallout from a crucial court case which found that the owners of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village had illegally raised rents has begun. A group of 11 tenants at London Terrace Gardens has sued their landlord on the same grounds that brought s.... Midtown restaurant saves itself Bice restaurant struck a deal with its employees' labor union and will not be closing in January as it had threatened last month, when it filed a WARN notice with the Department of Labor. The upscale Italian restaurant won significant concessions fro.... © 2009 West, a Thomson business Westlaw Integration Solutions  /  Westlaw.com