| Sunday, June 30th 2013, 01:08 GMT |
Fabio Leimer has been given a 10-place grid penalty for the second GP2 race at Silverstone as a punishment for taking championship leader Stefano Coletti out on Saturday
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| By Connell Sanders Jr | Sunday, June 30th 2013, 01:11 GMT |
The Kentucky NASCAR Sprint Cup race has been postponed to Sunday afternoon due to persistent rain at the track.
Conditions were poor at Kentucky Speedway all day on Saturday, with repeated showers following earlier thunderstorms.
Despite the organisers' best efforts to dry the track, the rain returned every time progress appeared promising.
An hour and a half after the scheduled start time of the Saturday night race, the decision was taken to abandon the evening and reschedule the race for midday local time on Sunday.
Dale Earnhardt Jr will start from pole position alongside Carl Edwards, with championship leader Jimmie Johnson third.
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| Sunday, June 30th 2013, 01:16 GMT |
Carlos Sainz Jr will get a 10-place grid penalty for the second Silverstone GP3 race, while Patrick Kujala has been suspended from the event for clashes with David Fumanelli.
Koiranen driver Kujala was launched over the top of Fumanelli's Trident car at Becketts in an incident that triggered a long safety period during race one. Kujala's car landed atop the tyre wall, but he escaped unhurt.
The stewards ruled that Kujala had hit Fumanelli twice in an "extremely serious breach of the regulations which had the potential to cause injury to others".
Sainz's punishment was for a late-race incident in which he forced Lewis Williamson off the road as the Bamboo driver drew alongside his MW Arden car on the run to Brooklands.
The Red Bull protege moved across the width of the track with Williamson alongside him, sending his rival into the barriers and out of the race.
Sainz subsequently fell to 13th, and will have to start 23rd on Sunday morning.
The other penalty issued was to Melville McKee, who had 20 seconds added to his race time for taking a jump-start penalty while the safety car was out.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Whenever you do, you're entering into another universe that may require you to pay tax on the income you earn while you're there.
But many business travelers and their employers aren't abiding by the rules, whether they realize it or not.
And it's easy to understand why.
Fifty states mean 50 different sets of rules.
In some states, you may be obligated to file a tax return even if you just spent a few hours there all year. Other states set minimum thresholds, based on the days you're there or how much you make during your trip.
And nine states don't impose any income tax at all. So no fear they'll hassle you.
Meanwhile, the rules for when your employer must start withholding tax from your paycheck on behalf of the state you travel to are also all over the map.
Indeed, in some states withholding rules don't square with the filing rules for the business traveler.
Quiz: Which state has the highest income tax rate?
New York, for instance, requires that anyone who comes for business must file a nonresident return for income earned from day one. But those travelers' employers are only required to start withholding New York tax if they work in the state for at least 14 days.
Who follows the rules? Several sources told CNNMoney that there is "rampant noncompliance."
Still, the rules are "not universally ignored," said Verenda Smith, deputy director of the Federation of Tax Administrators.
Those most likely to comply are professional athletes, entertainers and big-firm lawyers and accountants.
Take Jamie Yesnowitz, a principal at tax advisory firm Grant Thornton. He gives speeches around the country about state and local taxation. In 2011, he found himself filing 11 state tax returns.
"My wife looked at me like I had two heads," Yesnowitz said.
Related: Perils of moving to no-tax states
But other types of road warriors can find themselves in a similar situation if their employer is audited or simply withholds taxes where required -- a process that, by the way, can be very costly for the company.
Vincent Cervone, a CPA in Brooklyn, said one client -- a salesman for a large company -- had to file 10 different state tax returns in addition to his home state return.
If you do end up owing tax to another state, you're allowed to take a credit for that money on your own state's return. But that still might not make you whole because of differences between state tax systems. Not to mention the extra you have to pay your tax preparer.
Companies, payroll associations and tax professionals have been calling for greater uniformity among states when it comes to business travel.
Without it, "it's a compliance nightmare," said Cara Griffith, editor-in-chief of state tax publications for Tax Analysts.
There's a bill in Congress called the Mobile Workforce Simplification Act, which would exempt most business travelers from income tax in any state not their own unless they work there at least 30 days a year. And employers wouldn't have to withhold taxes before that threshold is met.
The bill has been revised several times, primarily to accommodate New York's concerns, said Maureen Riehl, a spokesperson for the Council on State Taxation, a trade association for companies that do business across states.
But the accommodations so far still haven't brought New York on board, she said.
Related: Smart business travel tips
New York is among the most aggressive states in terms of tax collection and stands to lose the most revenue if the Mobile Workforce bill became law, multiple sources noted.
The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance did not comment for this story.
Figures on how often people get in trouble are hard to come by. States that have gone after companies, to date, have likely focused on travel by high-paid executives, Griffith said.
But going forward, states may get more active, particularly after the hit their coffers took during the recession.
"This is one area they weren't heavily auditing in the past," Griffith said. "So there's potential for revenue." 
First Published: June 28, 2013: 6:26 AM ET
Edith Windsor's lawyers say their client is due about $70,000 in interest alone after winning her landmark case.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
But to Edith Windsor, the plaintiff who brought the case, the landmark ruling also means she will finally get back the $638,000 in estate tax payments she had to make to the IRS and to New York State after her spouse -- Thea Spyer -- died in 2009.
Normally, surviving spouses are entitled to inherit the estate of their late husband or wife tax free.
But because DOMA only recognized marriage between a man and a woman as legitimate for the purposes of federal law, same-sex spouses have not been entitled to the same privilege.
Related: Ruling is 'a huge relief' for couples
As a result, Windsor had to pay the federal government roughly $363,000, as well as $275,000 to New York state, where estate tax rules track the federal ones.
That money has been in limbo since Windsor sued to get it back in November 2010. Her case first went before a federal trial court judge in New York, then to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, and finally to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Windsor will also be paid interest on her refunds. Paul, Weiss, the law firm that represents her, estimates she will receive about $45,000 in interest on her federal refund and $25,000 on her New York State refund.
The other good news for the 83-year-old Windsor? Her lawyers won't be getting a cut because Paul, Weiss took the case pro bono.
Exactly when she'll receive her checks isn't clear yet, although the law firm says it expects it will be in a "reasonable amount of time."
First Published: June 28, 2013: 9:14 AM ET
Jeremy Stein is the latest Fed official to try to calm markets after Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments on stimulus last week.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Jeremy Stein, a Federal Reserve Board Governor, noted Friday that investors may have overreacted after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank may start slowing its stimulus program later this year.
Initially, stocks fell and bond yields rose following Bernanke's press conference last Wednesday. Since then, the 30-year mortgage rate spiked from 3.9% to nearly 4.5% -- its biggest one-week gain in 26 years.
Related: Scary times hit mortgage shoppers
But Stein urged the public not to read too much into the volatility.
Consumers and businesses "should take care not to over-interpret these movements," he said in prepared remarks. "We have attempted in recent weeks to provide more clarity about the nature of our policy reaction function, but I view the fundamentals of our underlying policy stance as broadly unchanged."
The comments echo speeches this week by other Fed officials, who have said that the Fed's controversial stimulus program could continue at full blast if economic growth doesn't live up to their expectations.
Ultimately, the policy depends on the economic data, not a calendar date, they've said.
Also Friday morning, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said it wasn't "too surprising" when stocks and bonds both fell sharply in response to Bernanke's press conference last week. "Volatility is a normal part of the process," he added.
Lacker has largely been a critic of stimulus, but even he joined his colleagues in hammering home one key point: Investors should not confuse slower stimulus with a tightening in monetary policy.
"The Federal Reserve is not only leaving the punch bowl in place, we're continuing to spike the punch, though at a decreasing rate over the next year," he said.
The Fed's current stimulus program marks the third round of so-called quantitative easing, or QE3 for short, and entails buying $85 billion in Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities each month. The key question is: When will the Fed start to reduce the pace of those purchases each month, and when will it end the program completely?
Last week, Bernanke said the Fed is considering tapering the program "later this year" and could bring it to an end in mid-2014, should the unemployment rate fall to roughly 7% over that time frame.
In his remarks Friday, Stein laid out September as a hypothetical time frame for tapering the program.
San Francisco Fed President John Williams will cap off the talkative week for the central bank, delivering remarks Friday afternoon.
First Published: June 28, 2013: 8:18 AM ET
NEW YORK (Fortune)
Fortune wants to make it even easier for you to eavesdrop. The Fortune Brainstorm Podcast is a weekly show that features recorded conversations from Fortune's live events.
Burberry's Angela Ahrendts is a high-powered CEO, and she's led the old, British fashion brand into a new technology frontier, carving the way as a leader in the luxury space. But how, exactly, do you make a clothing line high-tech? And even with new technology, can Burberry attract the millennials key to its growth strategy?
Fortune writer Beth Kowitt weighs in on the future of a fancy brand built on an iconic plaid pattern.
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First Published: June 28, 2013: 11:25 AM ET
News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
The print unit will retain the News Corp name (minus the period after Corp) when it starts trading Monday. The company's holdings include The Wall Street Journal , New York Post, the Times of London, tabloids in the U.K., and Australia, and book publisher Harper Collins.
The print company will have only a fraction of the market value of the remaining media conglomerate that will now be known as 21st Century Fox. It will include the Fox broadcast network, Fox News, the soon-to-be-launched Fox Sports 1 cable sports channel and the Fox movie studio. News Corp will keep the NWS ticker for the shares with enhanced voting rights and NWSA for the more commonly held shares, while 21st Century Fox will have the FOX and FOXA symbols.
Trading in the companies this week on a when-issued basis suggest the new News Corp will have a market value of about $9 billion, while 21st Century Fox will have a $67.3 billion market value.
By most measures -- market value, annual revenue of about $8 billion and a workforce of 24,000 -- News Corp will be by far the largest U.S. print media company, larger than USA Today publisher Gannett Co. (GCI, Fortune 500) and New York Times Co. (NYT) put together.
And it could get larger. Published reports say primary shareholder Rupert Murdoch, who will serve as the chairman of both companies, is interested in buying The Los Angeles Times from Tribune Co., which has been weighing the sale of some or all of its newspapers since emerging from bankruptcy last year.
Related: Murdoch settles phone-hacking claim with Hugh Grant, others
Current News Corp. shareholders will get one share in the new print company for every four shares they now own after the close of business Friday. The split was announced a year ago in the wake of the phone hacking scandal that forced the company to shut down News of the World, a tabloid that had one of the largest circulations in Britain.
"There have been shareholders asking for this for some time," said Michael Corty, media analyst for Morningstar. "The investor base really owned News Corp. for the entertainment assets. It was the News of the World scandal that seemed to finally precipitate the move."
Related: News Corp. CEO Murdoch files for divorce
Traditional print media has been under siege from the growth of new media, which have been cutting deeply into both their subscriber and advertising revenue.
But while investors and analysts long argued Murdoch's love of traditional print media was dragging down News Corp.'s (NWSA, Fortune 500) stock, print shares have actually been performing well this year. Gannett, New York Times and Washington Post Co. (WPO) are all up more than 25%, easily outpacing the broader market's gains.
"I think this is as good a time as any to spin it off," said Corty. "This seems to be way the media industry is going," he added, pointing to plans by Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500) to spin off its magazine unit Time Inc. Time Warner is parent of CNNMoney.
While Murdoch will retain the CEO title at 21st Century Fox, he will give over the CEO duties at the print company to Robert Thomson, the managing editor of the Journal.
First Published: June 28, 2013: 11:34 AM ET
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
First Solar was the best performing stock among the S&P 500, gaining more than 65% over the past three months.
It's a remarkable rebound for the leading maker of solar panels, which saw its stock fall 12% in the first quarter.
First Solar (FSLR) wowed investors in April with a surprisingly bullish outlook for the year. The stock shot up 43% in one day, after First Solar said it expected profits to be 28% above previous forecasts this year on healthy sales growth.
The solar industry has been in a slump as low-cost imports from China have depressed prices. But solar panel prices have stabilized and First Solar said demand is ramping up.
First Solar wasn't the only underdog to make a comeback.
J.C. Penney (JCP, Fortune 500) shares gained more than 12% during the quarter, recovering about half of their first quarter losses.
The retailer ousted CEO Ron Johnson in April, after his controversial turnaround plan failed to show results. J.C. Penney publicly apologized for the changes, and ran an ad on its YouTube channel that practically begged customers to come back.
Related: Top hedge fund manager bets on a return to normal markets
In business for more than 100 years, J.C. Penney has been swimming in red ink as it struggles to compete with online retailers. But the company has been strengthening its finances in an effort to mount another turnaround. It scored a $1.75 billion loan from Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) in April.
Other top performers in the quarter include popular momentum stocks, such as GameStop (GME, Fortune 500), Micron Technology (MU, Fortune 500) and Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500).
Best Buy has also been on a turnaround kick, cutting costs and closing under performing stores. Investors have welcomed the moves, sending shares up 26% in the quarter, despite a disappointing sales report in May.
It was also a good quarter for health insurance companies. Shares of Aetna (AET, Fortune 500), WellPoint (WLP, Fortune 500) and Humana (HUM, Fortune 500) all rose by more than 23%.
Golden parachute? Mining companies were among the worst performers in the quarter as prices of precious and non-precious metals plunged.
Shares of Alpha Natural Resources (ANR, Fortune 500) and Newmont Mining (NEM, Fortune 500) fell more than 30%. Iron Mountain (IRM) and Freeport McMoRan (FCX, Fortune 500) also suffered double-digit losses.
Investors have been dumping mining stocks as gold prices plunge.
Related: Gold plunges to two-year low
The precious metal is down 25% this quarter, falling below $1,200 an ounce this week for the first time since August 2010. The largest gold-backed ETF, the SPDR Gold Shares Trust (GLD), lost nearly 24% during the past three months.
While the sell-off in gold has caught the most headlines, mining stocks have also been hurt by the falling price of copper.
Copper prices plunged nearly 12% in the second quarter as demand from China slowed and supplies increased.
A number of energy companies were also hit hard.
Marathon Petroleum (MPC, Fortune 500) shares are down more than 20% for the quarter, after gaining 42% in the first quarter. The company has been playing catch-up on the boom in domestic energy production, and is exposed to a slowdown in emerging market demand.
Peabody Energy (BTU, Fortune 500), which specializes in coal mining, and gas station operator Valero (VLO, Fortune 500) were also big losers in the quarter.
First Published: June 28, 2013: 12:44 PM ET
The Z10 and Q10 are the first devices to launch on BlackBerry 10. The company's future hangs on the success of the long-delayed platform.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
The Canadian smartphone maker posted a surprise loss after shipping just 2.7 million new BlackBerry 10 devices in its fiscal first quarter, which ended June 1. Wall Street analysts had widely expected a profit and about a million more smartphone shipments.
As a result, BlackBerry (BBRY) shares tanked 28% on Friday.
The long-delayed BlackBerry 10 operating system finally launched in January with the all-touchscreen Z10. The sleek phone and modern OS were supposed to be the cornerstones of a BlackBerry turnaround after the once-leading smartphone platform fell into fourth place behind Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), Google's (GOOG, Fortune 500) Android and even lowly Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500).
That hasn't happened. BlackBerry 10 devices made up just 40% of the company's smartphone shipments in the period --the first full quarter that the new phones were on sale.
BlackBerry lost $84 million, or 13 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast a profit of 6 cents. First-quarter sales totaled just $3.1 billion, short of Wall Street's expectation of $3.4 billion.
Continued talk of transition: Despite the troublesome report, BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins struck an optimistic tone on a conference call with analysts on Friday. Heins spoke of "investing in growth, a "foundation of innovation" and being "still in our launch cycle."
Heins also defended BlackBerry's heavy spending on the BlackBerry 10 launch.
"We want total penetration of the market ... to do that you need to invest in marketing, you need to invest in promotions," Heins said. "And we're not done yet. There's more exciting devices coming, and we will spend to market those as well."
With the company's focus shifted to its core devices, BlackBerry said Friday it is essentially giving up on one long-struggling piece of hardware: the PlayBook tablet. Heins revealed the PlayBook will not receive an update to BlackBerry 10. A spokesman for the company said BlackBerry "will still support the current configuration."
Related story: The return of the BlackBerry believers
Outlook: Given the "highly competitive" smartphone market, BlackBerry said it expects to post another loss for the current quarter.
The company's shares have largely soared since last November, when the company announced the platform was finally, truly coming in January. But that runup is partly because many investors are still betting against BlackBerry.
As of June 14, nearly 35% of shares were held by short-sellers who think that BlackBerry's stock will fall. That's an extremely large percentage, and it has contributed to BlackBerry's wild swings as "shorts" are sometimes forced to buy up shares in order to cover their positions.
What's next for BlackBerry: BlackBerry recently announced a software management program for automakers and a "Secure Work Space" system that lets enterprise iPhone and Android users to toggle between personal and corporate modes.
Though Heins didn't rule out any "long-term strategic" changes for the company, he said he won't make BlackBerry a software-only company anytime soon. That's because Blackberry customers look at the company as "an end-to-end solution, including the device," Heins said.
Meanwhile, a second BlackBerry 10 device -- the Q10, which features a BlackBerry-classic QWERTY keyboard -- launched in only a few markets last quarter.
BlackBerry is also making a play for emerging markets where smartphone use hasn't yet reached the saturation point. In May the company announced the Q5, a brightly colored phone that features both a tactile keyboard and a 3.1-inch touchscreen. Pricing for the Q5 wasn't announced, but it's expected to be a low-cost phone that will go on sale in July in a few emerging markets
First Published: June 28, 2013: 7:30 AM ET
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
The Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq are all up between 12% and 14% as the first half of the year ends.
June was not as sunny. All indexes ended the month down roughly 1%, making June the first losing month this year.
It wasn't the June swoon, but perhaps the June jitterbug? The Dow has swung more than 100 points on 15 out of the 20 trading days this month.
Related: Big winners on Wall Street are yesterday's dogs
Fears of Fed taper: Fed officials have been in major damage control mode, since Fed chairman Ben Bernanke kicked off tumult in the stock, bond and gold markets last week. He said the central bank could wind down its stimulus program later this year, if the economy continues to improve.
Fed governor Jeremy Stein, while trying to allay investor fears, appeared to have inadvertently stoked them Friday. He said the Fed could "hypothetically" consider tapering its bond buying in September.
Related: Fed officials in damage control mode
At the same time, he said investors were overreacting, but that didn't seem to make a dent in sentiment.
The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 114 points, or 0.8%, Friday. The S&P 500 lost 0.4%. Only the Nasdaq gained ground, moving just slightly positive.
All three indexes finished the week higher.
Click here for more on stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies
Richmond Fed president Jeremy Lacker said the Fed will keep buying bonds, "though at a decreasing rate over the next year."
Bond, gold carnage: The mere mention of any end to bond buying has recently sent bond investors scrambling for the exits. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note hit 2.65% earlier this week -- its highest level since August 2011 and well above the 1.6% in early May. The yield hovered around 1.5% at the end of Friday's trading day.
Gold prices have been slammed as well. Gold rose 1% Friday, but the precious metal slid 13% this month.
As volatility rose in June, so did the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX). The VIX rose 4% this month, and 37% for the quarter.
CNNMoney's Fear and Greed Index has had a wild quarter as well. A month ago it was in greed and even nudged into extreme greed in mid-May. But once Bernanke hinted at tapering, the needle quickly shot over to extreme fear.
Related: Fear & Greed Index slides back into extreme fear
BlackBerry bombs: Embattled mobile company BlackBerry (BBRY) reported first-quarter results Friday that fell short of analysts' forecasts. Shares tumbled 25%.
Nike (NKE, Fortune 500) reported better-than-expected earnings, but analysts remain worried about Nike's ability to cut costs.
Shares of Accenture (ACN) moved lower after the consulting firm slashed expectations for its year-end results.
Shares of Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500) edged higher after the drug maker announced late Thursday that it would increased its share buyback program by $10 billion.
The restaurant chain Noodles & Co (NDLS)'s stock more than doubled from its $18 IPO price.
First Published: June 28, 2013: 9:45 AM ET
A cup of joe from the Starbucks coffee shop in Beijing's Forbidden City.
(Money Magazine)
It's a remarkable turnaround for a firm that just five years ago had to bring back former CEO Howard Schultz after overexpansion and error-filled forays beyond coffee -- ranging from breakfast foods to music -- eroded customer patience. After righting the ship, management is again embarking on another major expansion. But at what cost?
Venti valuations
After more than quadrupling in the past four years, the stock is foamy.
| Projected P/E ratios | |
| Starbucks | 27.1 |
| Restaurant stocks | 21.2 |
| S&P 500 | 15.2 |
Notes: Price/earnings ratios are based on projected profits. Sources: Bloomberg, Morningstar
Strong brew
"Say 'Starbucks' to the average American, and they'll not only think of coffee, but good coffee," says David Ricci, co-manager of William Blair Large Cap Growth, which owns the stock. The same can now be said for global consumers.
Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) is the world's only premium coffee superpower, and its basic business -- selling expensive cups of joe and even pricier espresso drinks through nearly 18,900 stores worldwide -- is as robust as its earthy Sumatra roast.
Related: Starbucks hikes prices
Even with a recession in Europe, global same-store sales still rose 6%. Revenues should climb 11.5% this year, vs. 7% growth for Dunkin' Brands (DNKN) (parent of Dunkin' Donuts).
And SBUX will save more than a quarter-billion dollars in coffee costs in the next two years because of falling bean prices.
Caffeinated costs
Starbucks is growing all over. The company plans to build 600 more cafés in the U.S. this year and another 1,000 stores in China by the end of 2015. It bought Teavana, Evolution Fresh, and La Boulange for $750 million to move more into teas, juices, and baked goods.
The roaster is also making a big push into the at-home market through K-cup sales and its new Verismo brewing system.
Related: Starbucks starts paying U.K. tax
"One concern is, Are you doing too much?" says Bill McVail, analyst at Turner Global Opportunities Fund, which owns the stock.
The reason the firm had to go back to Schultz was it tried -- and failed at -- brand extension via ice creams and even a music label. While croissants and coffee pods are closer to the core business, a misstep could dim Wall Street's starry eyes.
Steamy valuations
Starbucks is poised for years of growth, but it's also "a company with a valuation that is just too expensive for us," says Regina Lombardi, co-manager of BBH Global Core Select. The stock's price/earnings ratio is nearly double the S&P 500's, so you have to pay to jump on this caffeine-fueled bandwagon.
That said, even after boosting spending, Starbucks has $1.7 billion in cash, 10 times Dunkin's stash. Management is also likely to boost dividends in line with strong earnings growth, says Ashley Woodruff, an analyst at the T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth Fund, which owns the stock. "Starbucks is able to pay shareholders and still invest in the businesses it wants," she says.
Think: a splash of income to go with rich growth.
First Published: June 28, 2013: 4:42 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Walmart (WMT, Fortune 500), Target (TGT, Fortune 500), Home Depot (HD, Fortune 500), Sears (SHLD, Fortune 500), JC Penney (JCP, Fortune 500) and Caesars (CZR, Fortune 500) have recently ended their deals with Deen while drugmaker Novo Nordisk (NVO) and home shopping channel QVC have suspended their dealings with the embattled celebrity chef.
On Friday, President Jimmy Carter, whose Atlanta-based Carter Foundation is hosting a human rights forum this weekend, weighed in on the issue.
"She was maybe excessively honest in saying that she had in the past, 30 years ago, used this terrible word," Carter told CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.
Carter, while not condoning Deen's racial slurs, said she's been punished enough and that he advised her to get the people she's helping to speak up.
Several of her business partners are doing just that, speaking up and pledging to stand by her. Many have issued letters of support for Deen.
Sandridge Food Corporation, a fresh foods manufacturer that produces deli salads, soups, entrees, desserts, sauces and dips, released a statement Wednesday announcing its unwavering support for Deen.
"Paula is a very caring person who has spent the majority of her life helping the less privileged and giving back," said CEO Mark Sandridge. "As an organization, we believe she and her team are on the right track and we look forward to continuing to work together."
Related: Paula Deen business shaken by controversy
Sandridge says he knows Deen personally and asserts the woman portrayed in the media is not the woman he knows.
"The woman that I know is a very giving person; I do not believe she's a racist whatsoever," said Sandridge. "We know where she comes from and she is genuinely about equality for all."
Kevin Lyles, President and Chief Operating Officer of Club Marketing Services -- which helps companies sell to Wal-Mart and Sam's Club -- affirmed his support for Deen.
"Her apology for the past, I believe came from the heart," said Lyles "The commitment to fairness and equality in the workplace for everyone was from the heart and also a clear message to everyone working for her and those supporting her brand that this behavior will not be tolerated by Paula Deen Enterprises going forward."
Lyles, a personal friend of Deen's for about four years, says she has always shown love and compassion for her fellow man, and has made financial decisions that have not always been in her best interest.
As Deen became a household name, he said she had many opportunities to drop smaller companies that were supporting her and switch to larger companies that could benefit her more financially. But Lyles said Deen instead chose to stay with them.
"She wanted the people that supported her to grow with her," Lyles said.
Related: Paula Deen fans lash out against Wal-Mart
Perhaps one of Deen's most ardent supporters is Julie Goodman Cook, a sales consultant who oversees the Paula Deen cruise for Alice Travel. Cook's unwavering support was on full display as she explained how generous and giving Deen has been.
Cook said, while on the Deen themed cruise, the chef auctioned off personal items such as clothing worn while on TV as well as serving dishes, artwork and other items from her home. The auction raised almost $80,000 for Deen's Bag Lady Foundation which supports women and families in need.
Cook said the support she has seen from Deen's fans of all races has been overwhelming. "My phone has not stopped ringing," said Cook. "The emails haven't stopped, Facebook is going crazy and they are all positive comments from her fans."
First Published: June 28, 2013: 3:16 PM ET
| Friday, June 28th 2013, 19:36 GMT |
Freddy Loix's Ypres Rally lead soared to 1m36s at the end of Friday after Craig Breen suffered a broken driveshaft.
Breen had been the only man able to keep seven-time Ypres winner and Belgian rallying legend Loix in sight on home ground at the start of the latest European Rally Championship round.
He escaped a puncture on SS4 with only minimal delay, but a driveshaft breakage on the next stage left Breen's Peugeot limping in two-wheel-drive.
By the time the loop was complete, he had fallen to fourth place overall.
Breen's troubles left Loix's factory-supported Skoda over a minute and a half clear of new second-place man Bryan Bouffier.
Hayden Paddon became the first man to deny Loix a stage win when he topped the short Mesen, and is now third, 13 seconds ahead of Breen.
As is Ypres' tradition, the remainder of the rally is crammed into Saturday, with four loops totalling 14 stages, starting mid-morning and finishing under darkness.
Leading positions after SS6: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Freddy Loix Skoda 57m56.8s 2. Bryan Bouffier Delta Peugeot +1m36.2s 3. Hayden Paddon Symtech Ford +2m09.0s 4. Craig Breen Sainteloc Peugeot +2m22.2s 5. Andreas Aigner Stohl Subaru +3m17.9s 6. Davy Vanneste Duindistel Peugeot +3m46.9s 7. Hermen Kobus Kobus Ford +3m47.3s 8. Andy Lefevere Atlantic Mitsubishi +3m56.1s 9. Michal Solowow Cersanit Ford +5m22.5s 10. Melissa Debackere Duindistel Peugeot +5m33.9s
| By Jonathan Noble | Friday, June 28th 2013, 19:53 GMT |
Lewis Hamilton has been reprimanded for making a late entry to the pitlane during second practice for the British Grand Prix
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| By Connell Sanders Jr | Friday, June 28th 2013, 22:40 GMT |
Dale Earnhardt Jr earned his first pole of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season in qualifying at Kentucky Speedway.
It looked like his championship-leading Hendrick team-mate Jimmie Johnson might be hard to beat when he went 0.2 seconds clear of the field with a record 29.485s lap early on.
But Earnhardt was able to topple Johnson by 0.079s as he put himself on pole for the first time since Richmond last autumn.
Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards then got between the Hendrick duo as he claimed the outside front row spot with a lap 0.053s down on Earnhardt.
Joe Gibbs Racing duo Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin put their cars fourth and sixth, separated by Marcos Ambrose's Richard Petty Motorsport Ford.
The remaining top 10 spots went to Ryan Newman, champion Brad Keselowski, Brian Vickers and Juan Pablo Montoya.
The Kentucky race takes place on Saturday night local time.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet 29.406s 2. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 29.459s +0.053s 3. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 29.485s +0.079s 4. Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Toyota 29.574s +0.168s 5. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 29.575s +0.169s 6. Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Toyota 29.615s +0.209s 7. Ryan Newman Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 29.629s +0.223s 8. Brad Keselowski Penske Ford 29.639s +0.233s 9. Brian Vickers Waltrip Toyota 29.683s +0.277s 10. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 29.716s +0.310s 11. Joey Logano Penske Ford 29.718s +0.312s 12. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 29.727s +0.321s 13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Fenway Ford 29.770s +0.364s 14. Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet 29.775s +0.369s 15. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota 29.808s +0.402s 16. Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Toyota 29.816s +0.410s 17. AJ Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Toyota 29.852s +0.446s 18. Aric Almirola Petty Ford 29.856s +0.450s 19. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota 29.862s +0.456s 20. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 29.873s +0.467s 21. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet 29.894s +0.488s 22. Kevin Harvick Childress Chevrolet 29.904s +0.498s 23. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 29.926s +0.520s 24. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 30.005s +0.599s 25. Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 30.006s +0.600s 26. Austin Dillon Phoenix Chevrolet 30.033s +0.627s 27. Kurt Busch Furniture Row Chevrolet 30.102s +0.696s 28. David Stremme Swan Toyota 30.155s +0.749s 29. Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 30.177s +0.771s 30. Landon Cassill Circle Sport Chevrolet 30.292s +0.886s 31. Casey Mears Germain Ford 30.297s +0.891s 32. Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet 30.340s +0.934s 33. Michael McDowell Parsons Ford 30.386s +0.980s 34. David Gilliland Front Row Ford 30.425s +1.019s 35. JJ Yeley Baldwin Chevrolet 30.571s +1.165s 36. David Reutimann BK Toyota 30.597s +1.191s 37. Josh Wise Front Row Ford 30.615s +1.209s 38. David Ragan Front Row Ford 30.622s +1.216s 39. Mike Bliss Humphrey Smith Toyota 30.714s +1.308s 40. Travis Kvapil BK Toyota 30.733s +1.327s 41. Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 30.816s +1.410s 42. Scott Riggs Xxxtreme Ford 30.832s +1.426s 43. Ken Schrader FAS Lane Ford 31.216s +1.810s
Subscribe to Premier Sports TV to watch all Sprint Cup events live in the UK. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
| By Matt Beer | Thursday, June 27th 2013, 19:16 GMT |
Jorge Lorenzo blamed his own over-confidence for the Assen crash that left him sidelined with a broken collarbone
You have viewed over 20 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| Thursday, June 27th 2013, 21:55 GMT |
Freddy Loix began his European Rally Championship return with the fastest time on the Ypres Rally qualifying stage on Thursday evening
You have viewed over 20 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Mark Glendenning | Thursday, June 27th 2013, 22:02 GMT |
IndyCar team owner Dale Coyne declared himself pleased with Australian James Davison's performance in testing at Mid-Ohio on Wednesday
You have viewed over 20 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By David Evans | Wednesday, June 26th 2013, 13:46 GMT |
World Rally Championship leader Sebastien Ogier has been linked to a test in Bentley's Continental GT3, with the Frenchman saying he hopes to do more circuit racing in the future
You have viewed over 20 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| Wednesday, June 26th 2013, 15:55 GMT |
Red Bull boss Christian Horner says Mercedes' punishments for breaking Formula 1's testing regulations were too lenient
You have viewed over 20 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Edd Straw | Wednesday, June 26th 2013, 16:38 GMT |
James Rossiter will make his grand prix weekend debut for Force India in Friday morning practice for the British Grand Prix
You have viewed over 20 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Scott Mitchell | Monday, June 24th 2013, 15:28 GMT |
Briton Martin Plowman hailed a "dream" Le Mans 24 Hours debut after claiming victory in the LMP2 class with OAK Racing.
You have viewed over 20 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Matt Beer | Monday, June 24th 2013, 15:34 GMT |
Robert Kubica says the experience he is gaining of gravel rallying is far more important to him than the WRC2 victories he is racking up.
You have viewed over 20 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Edd Straw | Monday, June 24th 2013, 16:53 GMT |
Formula 1 teams will use a new side impact system in 2014 designed to improve protection in the case of an oblique angle of impact.
You have viewed over 20 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Mark Glendenning | Sunday, June 23rd 2013, 00:53 GMT |
Helio Castroneves will start Sunday's IndyCar race at Iowa from pole position after winning the final heat race at the 7/8th mile oval on Saturday evening
You have viewed over 20 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Sam Tremayne | Sunday, June 23rd 2013, 01:12 GMT |
Allan McNish tightened Audi's grip at the front of the field at the halfway point of the 81st Le Mans 24 Hours
You have viewed over 20 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Sam Tremayne | Sunday, June 23rd 2013, 02:05 GMT |
Toyota's two TS030 HYBRIDS moved back onto the lead lap of the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours under a safety car that lasted for almost the duration of the 13th hour
You have viewed over 20 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
Taking care of a loved one's will comes with its own kind of grief.
(Money Magazine)
If you've been named executor -- a role more and more boomers will be playing as their parents' generation passes on -- you'll be in charge of settling the financial matters included in your loved one's will.
"Most people are overwhelmed at how many moving parts there are," says David Inabinett, an estate attorney in Lexington, N.C.
Here are some of the challenges you'll face, and a few tips to help you through.
You'll be chasing paper
Ideally, you and the deceased would have discussed the locations of his assets and important documents (like titles and insurance policies) prior to his death. "Unfortunately," says Inabinett, "most people have not had that conversation." You'll probably have to hunt down the info.
Ease the burden: Look for tax returns first, as they are a good road map for real estate, sources of income, interest-bearing accounts, dividend-yielding investments, and retirement assets. Also, have the deceased's mail forwarded to you. That won't help you find accounts for which the person receives e-statements, though, so also contact your loved one's email provider to see if you can gain access to his inbox.
You'll juggle many balls
It's up to you to notify your loved one's financial institutions of his death. Until all the assets are passed to heirs, you must also prudently manage the estate's finances, from paying bills to filing taxes.
Should the will need to go through probate -- a process of validating it legally -- you could be looking at six months or more before you can distribute assets. Even if the estate is small enough to avoid probate, you may be in for a few months of work to settle debts before handing out inheritances.
Related: Everybody needs a will
Ease the burden: Draft help. "Just because you're the executor doesn't mean you have to do everything," says Mary Randolph, author of The Executor's Guide. Others named in the will may be happy to assist.
No such luck? You are entitled to take a fee for your efforts, which might mitigate resentment; the amount varies by state. Or hire a professional, like a financial adviser. The person's fees may be paid out of the estate.
You may ruffle some feathers
Many wills leave gray areas (like, who gets Aunt Helen's ring?). As executor, you're in charge of settling those questions and other disagreements. You may also have to deliver news people don't want to hear.
Related: Living wills and health-care proxies
Ease the burden: First off, "let people know what's going on," says Randolph. Keeping people in the loop helps prevent frustration.
Second, don't make unilateral decisions that surprise people, such as selling your dad's house without running it by your siblings. If disputes threaten relationships, hire a mediator or come up with impersonal ways to divide goods, like drawing straws. Your loved one wouldn't want his death to tear the family asunder.
First Published: June 21, 2013: 9:23 AM ET
China is grappling with the challenge of pricking real-estate and credit bubbles and avoiding a hard landing for the economy at the same time.
LONDON (CNNMoney)
In its bid to control surging real estate prices and a head off a credit bubble, the Chinese government could end up sparking a credit crunch and slow economic growth more than expected.
And as seen this week, concerns about the world's second-biggest economy can rattle investors all over.
The People's Bank of China, which maintains tight control over the banking system, has been taking a tough line with Chinese lenders. It refused to inject cash into the financial system earlier this week despite rocketing short-term borrowing costs and evidence that the economy is slowing.
Growth in China slipped to 7.8% last year. The government's target for this year is 7.5%. But the risk of a disappointment is rising and with it the prospects of a weaker-than-expected recovery in the global economy.
HSBC, which cut its China forecast to 7.4% this week, said it believed Beijing would not act to stimulate the economy unless growth was heading to 7%.
"We believe markets will worry about the slowdown, but take time to get enthusiastic about the prospects for reform," noted HSBC strategists Garry Evans and Herald van der Linde, downgrading Chinese equities to neutral from overweight.
The Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng both closed about 0.5% weaker Friday and have lost 8.6% and 10.6% respectively since the start of the year, compared with gains of about 11% on U.S. stocks.
With the Federal Reserve likely to start winding down its bond-buying program before the end of the year, analysts at Nomura believe China is taking a stand now to avoid delivering two shocks simultaneously.
Related: China cities move to cool red-hot housing market
The rate at which Chinese banks lend to each other overnight hit a record high above 13% this week before falling to 8.5% Friday. Another key measure of cash in the banking system -- the 7-day "repo rate" -- hit 25% on Thursday, before dropping sharply Friday.
There were some reports Friday that the central bank had taken steps to ease lending but rates remain way above normal levels.
Explanations for the cash crunch vary. But China watchers agree that the country's central bank's hard line reflects Beijing's desire to put reform before growth in the short term and moderate lending to its burgeoning "shadow banking" sector.
"We believe that recent action by the People's Bank of China reflects the government's determination to take aggressive action to contain financial risks," said Nomura economist Zhiwei Zhang.
The International Monetary Fund last month cut its growth forecast for China to 7.75%, raising concerns about a rapid expansion in credit and questioning the quality of borrowers and their ability to repay loans.
Related: China's debt: a crisis in the making?
Analysts worry that new lending is not translating into growth and is increasingly dominated by unregulated operators such as trust companies, securities dealers and underground operators that make up the shadow banking system.
The risk that the cash crunch will trigger a full-blown financial crisis is slim, given the vast resources of the Chinese government. But corporate earnings will suffer as financing costs rise, and some companies could default.
Fitch Ratings agency, which warned in April about excessive debt levels, said Friday it calculated that credit expansion would total 18 trillion yuan ($2.9 trillion) this year, a level similar to 2011 and 2012, if the authorities maintain their current stance.
But with 10 trillion yuan extended by the end of May, that implies a sharp drop in new credit in the second half.
"This credit deceleration will create a further drag on economic growth, which has been slowing down steadily since early 2010," Fitch said.
The central bank has not commented this week but the Chinese government said Wednesday it would maintain a prudent monetary policy to curb new credit for unauthorized construction projects in industries with over capacity.
First Published: June 21, 2013: 10:19 AM ET
NEW YORK (Fortune)
Fortune wants to make it even easier for you to eavesdrop. The Fortune Brainstorm podcast is a weekly show that features recorded conversations from Fortune's live events.
This week, Fortune management guru Geoff Colvin takes us behind the scenes of his interview with Whole Foods (WFM, Fortune 500) co-CEO Walter Robb. Colvin sheds light on some of the most pressing issues facing the company, as in, how can it expand and maintain its "green" image? Robb discusses how Whole Foods can keep its competitive edge when natural foods sections keep popping up in grocery stores everywhere.
Tune in for more on how Robb's serious business mentality meshes with his crunchy granola grocery chain.
Subscribe to and download the podcast from iTunes.
Or stick the podcast's RSS feed into your favorite podcast app: http://fortunebrainstormpodcast.libsyn.com/rss.
First Published: June 21, 2013: 12:05 PM ET
Greece is facing an uncertain future as a defection from the coalition government leaves it with a tiny majority in parliament.
LONDON (CNNMoney)
The defection was triggered by a dispute over the government's decision to close state broadcaster ERT last week and leaves the coalition with just a three-seat majority in parliament. That could make it more difficult to pass future economic reforms required as a condition of the rescue by the EU and International Monetary Fund.
Investors were spooked by the political fallout, sending Greek stocks down by more than 6% and yields on government bonds higher. The 10-year yield has shot up to nearly 11% from just over 8% a month ago.
Greece shut down ERT -- which employed roughly 2,700 employees -- in a move to meet government commitments to shed 15,000 public-sector jobs by the end of 2014. It intends to establish a new, much smaller, state broadcaster in its place.
Cutting public-sector jobs and introducing economic reforms is part of the conditions laid out for Greece in its international rescue package by eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund.
Related: Corporate raider seeks to snap up $3 billion in Greek debt
The return of political instability comes at a difficult time for Greece. There were reports this week that the IMF may not deliver its share of the next bailout payment because of a funding gap in Greece, partly due to lower-than-expected receipts from privatization.
The European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF -- known as the troika -- have confirmed that a review of Greece's progress has been suspended until the end of June.
Still, the troika says talks will resume at the end of the month, and bailout financing for the country should not be affected.
"There is no financial gap. The [bailout] program will be fully financed," said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chairs meetings of eurozone finance ministers. He said the troika was under a tight deadline to finish its Greek review by the beginning of July to ensure payments were made on time.
--CNN's Theodore Kermeliotis contributed to this story.
First Published: June 21, 2013: 11:28 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Tesla hopes the new system will help overcome the fears that many drivers have about the convenience of electric cars.
At a demonstration in California Thursday night, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the battery swap stations will be installed throughout the network of "supercharging" stations that Tesla is already building around the nation. The supercharging stations currently provide free recharging in about an hour. Musk said the battery swap, which will cost at least $50, will allow drivers a choice in order to get back on the road faster.
"The only decision you need to make when you come to one of our Tesla stations is, do you prefer faster or free," he said. "Our goal here was to eliminate the objections that people have. We want to show that [Tesla] can actually be more convenient than a gasoline car. Hopefully this is what convinces people that electric cars are the future."
During Tesla's demonstration of the Model S battery swaps, a video screen above the swapping station showed a driver taking 4 minutes to fill up at the pump.
It cost $99.83 to fill up the car's 23 gallon tank at an L.A. gas station. Most gas tanks hold around 15 or 16 gallons.
Related: 9 questions for Tesla's Elon Musk
The swap is done by the same machine used on the assembly line, which senses the location of the bolts that hold the battery in place, unscrews them and then lowers the old battery into the ground and raises the new battery into place, reattaching the nuts to factory specifications.
According to analyst Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research, the quick-charge stations will be a money maker for Tesla, which plans to spend about $100 million installing the stations. Each swapping station will cost Tesla about $500,000 to install.
"We estimate Tesla margins on battery swap stations could be north of 60%," he said.
Company spokeswoman Shanna Hendriks wouldn't comment on the profit margin. But unlike the high-speed supercharging, Hendriks said Tesla intends to make money on the battery swaps. But she said the company's main purpose for offering the service is to make drivers more comfortable with the idea of taking trips in their Tesla, not to generate profits.
Drivers who opt for the swap will have to eventually return to the station to get their original battery back, and they'll have to pay for the service once again.
If they don't return, they can pay to have the 1,000-pound battery shipped back to the service center nearest their home, or they can keep the new battery they've had installed, a battery's efficiency varies depending on its age. It is expected that the swapping stations will be able to serve all future Tesla models, but not its original car, the Roadster.
The battery swapping technology also gives Tesla additional environmental credits from states such as California, which are pushing automakers to sell more zero-emission cars. Tesla has been able to sell those credits to the major automakers, and that has been a significant source of profits for the company.
One start-up that also planned to offer battery swapping for electric vehicles, Better Place, recently filed for bankruptcy and halted its operations. Chowdhry said that company's plans were based on the flawed assumption that all the different electric vehicles would use interchangeable batteries.
Related: Tesla tripling supercharger network
In May, Tesla announced plans to greatly expand its existing supercharging network, tripling the number of stations by the end of this month. By the end of this year, Tesla plans to have more than 100 locations, allowing drivers to drive from Los Angeles to New York.
Some battery swapping stations are expected to be in service by the end of the year along the San Francisco to Los Angeles corridor. Eventually they will be at all supercharging locations, though there is no schedule yet for when that will be accomplished.
Shares of Tesla (TSLA), which have nearly tripled in value so far this year, were up in early afternoon trading.
First Published: June 21, 2013: 10:05 AM ET
Click chart for more markets data.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
The Federal Reserve chairman clearly spooked the market this week. Simply hinting that the Fed might wind down its stimulus program later this year was enough to lead to another week of losses.
The three major U.S. stock market indexes ended the week down between 1.8% and 2.1%.
But the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 finished Friday up 0.3%, after spending part of the day down. The Nasdaq closed down 0.2%.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the Dow shed more than 550 points, and stocks stayed on rocky ground Friday.
Related: Fear & Greed Index firmly in extreme fear
Bernanke's words have kept bond yields jumping. The 10-year Treasury yield hit nearly 2.54% Friday.
Investors have been bailing out of bonds and sending yields higher over the past month amid speculation that the Fed will soon taper its monthly bond purchases, known as quantitative easing.
Click here for more on bonds, currencies and commodities
Even after this week's sell-off, stocks are still way up this year. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq have gained between 11% and 13% since the start of January.
The Fed has been a major driver of the bull market over the past few months as it has injected liquidity into the markets. Traders say the coming shift in monetary policy will mean even more volatility in the months ahead.
The CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX) was up almost 2% Friday, a day after surging 23%. CNNMoney's Fear and Greed Index remained in Extreme Fear mode.
Related: Don't panic! Selling now could hurt your nest egg
Gold has been hit hard too. The metal bounced back slightly Friday after a sell-off pushed gold below $1300 to its worst level in two and a half years.
European stock markets ended lower, while Asian markets were mixed.
Japan's Nikkei index posted a 1.7% bounce, closing the week with a gain of 4.3%.
But Chinese stocks continued to head lower as investors worried about tighter liquidity conditions across the country and a slump in manufacturing activity.
Nomura analysts said Chinese government policies seem to be the reason for the cash crunch.
"Since mid-March, the government has introduced a series of tightening measures in the shadow banking sector to contain financial risks," they said in a research note. "The People's Bank of China could have reacted and injected liquidity through open market operations. Its decision not to intervene shows that it is committed to tightening the policy stance."
Related: U.S. dollar headed for 'multi-year rally'
In corporate news, Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500) slid 9% after the tech firm reported weak results.
Shares of Facebook (FB) edged higher, one day after the social media giant rolled out its Instagram video product.
Darden Restaurants (DRI, Fortune 500), which operates chains including Red Lobster and Olive Garden, reported earnings that missed estimates, but a slightly better-than-forecast revenue increase.
Shares of CarMax (KMX, Fortune 500) slumped after the auto retailer missed revenue forecasts, even as it reported better-than-expected quarterly profits.
Inflight wireless company Gogo (GOGO) lost ground on its first day of trading, closing 6% below its IPO price of $17.
First Published: June 21, 2013: 9:44 AM ET
Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, left, got a significant reduction to his 24-year sentence for corporate fraud.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Skilling was originally sentenced to 24 years, the longest sentence of any Enron perpetrator, and has been incarcerated in the federal prison system since his 2006 conviction. He had been facing a release date of Feb. 21, 2028.
Related: Years of legal wrangling led to Skilling's sentence reduction
As part of the resentencing deal brokered between prosecutors and the defense last month, Skilling agreed to stop challenging his conviction and forfeit roughly $42 million that will be distributed among the victims of the Enron fraud.
"The sentence handed down today ends years of litigation, imposes significant punishment upon the defendant and precludes him from ever challenging his conviction or sentence," Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman said in a statement.
It's unclear exactly when Skilling will be released under his new 14-year sentence. The Justice Department referred questions on the issue to the Bureau of Prisons, which declined to comment.
Victims, including former Enron employees and stockholders, were invited to speak at the resentencing hearing Friday. More than 4,000 employees lost their jobs and some also lost their life savings, which were tied up in the company investment retirement plans. Investors lost billions of dollars. The name "Enron" has become synonymous with white collar crime, just as the name "Madoff" has become synonymous with Ponzi schemes.
Skilling was convicted of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors during his tenure as executive of Enron, an energy-trading company that went bankrupt in 2001 amid allegations of corporate fraud and corruption.
But Skilling has maintained his innocence throughout the duration of the scandal, just like his CEO predecessor Kenneth Lay, who founded Enron.
Related: Exclusive prison interview with Bernie Madoff
Lay was also convicted, in 2006, of corporate fraud. But he died later that year at age 64 while on vacation in Aspen, Colo., just months before his scheduled sentencing.
Skilling, 59, is being held at a federal jail in downtown Houston for the duration of the court proceedings. Also known as inmate #29296-179, he usually resides at Englewood federal prison in Littleton, Colo.
Another Enron convict, Andrew Fastow, was released four years early, in 2011, after making a plea bargain.
CNN's Carol Cratty and CNNMoney's James O'Toole contributed reporting.
First Published: June 21, 2013: 12:55 PM ET
Starbucks, next Tuesday, is raising U.S. prices by an average of 1% for its brewed drinks to help offset an increase in business costs.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
The price hike will affect beverages including Starbucks' (SBUX, Fortune 500) brewed coffee, tea, latte and espresso drinks, said spokesman Jim Olson. While drink prices vary from city to city, Olson said that customers in some markets could pay about 10 cents more for a tall brewed coffee.
Still, less than one-third of all Starbucks beverages will be affected by the new prices, he added.
For instance, prices will not increase at a vast majority of Starbucks stores for its venti and grande-sized brewed coffees, or for its Frappuccino drinks.
This is the first price hike in nearly two years for the coffee chain, according to Olson, who said the rising cost of labor, raw materials and rent triggered the move.
Still, there is one way that customers can always shave a few cents off their coffee tab: Starbucks offers a 10 cent discount on any drink when customers bring in a personal tumbler or use a reuseable Starbucks cup.
First Published: June 21, 2013: 5:01 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
He may be a great basketball player, but endorsement experts say that off the court, he's still no Michael Jordan.
James has $39 million in annual endorsements, more than any other active athlete, according to the Fortunate 50 rankings compiled by Sports Illustrated and Fortune magazines. But Michael Jordan is still bringing in a whopping $80 million in endorsement deals a year - even though he hasn't set foot on a court in a decade.
Many fans simply don't like James. He was heavily criticized when he moved to the Miami Heat as a free agent in 2010, and his popularity plunged according to various surveys.
Related: Heat's winning streak sparks sales rush
"That was the first time we saw such a precipitous drop in appeal without something criminal happening," said Henry Shafer, executive vice president of the Q Scores Company, which conducts one such survey.
James' likability is on par with that of Mickey Rourke and rocker Gene Simmons of KISS - which isn't great company - according to a competing survey by the Celebrity DBI index.
"It certainly doesn't hurt that [James] has won two championships in a row. But it's going to be really hard for him to match what Jordan delivered on camera and how he resonated with fans," said Darin David, director of the sports consulting group at The Marketing Arm, which arranges deals between advertisers and and celebrities.
Related: Under Armour's crew of star athletes
David and others experts say that pitchmen like Jordan and Peyton Manning have a special on-screen persona that most athletes will never have, no matter how many championship titles they might accumulate.
Both Jordan and James have deals with Nike (NKE, Fortune 500), which pays out billions in endorsement deals to athletes around the world. James also has deals with top consumer companies like Coca-Cola (KO, Fortune 500), McDonald's (MCD, Fortune 500) and Samsung. But commercials starring James get relatively limited air time, even during the NBA playoffs.
Related: Coming out could boost Jason Collins' endorsements
Shafer, from the Q Scores Company, said that while James has started to slowly win back sports fans, he hasn't made a lot of progress with the general public.
"It's not just about winning. It's about how you interact with the public," he said.
First Published: June 21, 2013: 4:28 PM ET
Elon Musk and Tesla are battling dealership associations throughout the country for the right to sell vehicles directly to customers.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Tesla said in a statement Friday that if the bill passes, it will be "put out of business in New York," with all employees in the state losing their jobs.
"The bottom line for New York consumers and New York suppliers is that if this bill passes, special interests in Albany will once again have gotten their way while robbing New Yorkers of choices in the marketplace," Tesla (TSLA) said.
The current legislative session was originally scheduled to conclude on Thursday, but work continued in both the Senate and Assembly on Friday, and it is unclear when it will end.
Related: Tesla unveils 90-second battery-pack swap
CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter Friday as legislators were considering the bill, urging New Yorkers to call their representatives and ask them to vote it down.
The New York State Automobile Dealers Association did not respond to a request for comment, though the association is also urging supporters to contact their representatives, saying the pending bill is "designed to maintain the health and vitality of New York's retail automobile industry."
Tesla has tangled with dealership associations in a number of states in its effort to sell its Model S electric sedan directly to consumers rather than using franchised car dealers.
General Motors (GM, Fortune 500), Ford (F, Fortune 500), Toyota (TM) and others don't sell cars to customers. They sell to independently owned and operated dealers or distributors who, in turn, sell them to the public, usually after some negotiation over the final price.
Tesla's showrooms, by contrast, are owned and operated by the company. Most are in shopping malls, with only enough cars on hand for display and test drives. Every Tesla car sells at full sticker price, and service on the cars is performed at separate garages owned by Tesla.
Auto sales are mostly regulated at the state level. In some states, Tesla has had little or no problem opening its stores. In others, auto dealers and their allies in government have resisted Tesla's plans, fearing they could ultimately undermine the system of franchised dealers.
Earlier this month, legislators in Texas failed to vote on a bill backed by Tesla that would have loosened the state's restriction on dealerships owned by automakers. Virginia rejected the electric-car maker's dealership application earlier this year.
Dealers argue that the traditional franchise system is best for car buyers because it preserves competition between dealerships selling the same products.
But Tesla worries that traditional franchised dealers, who also have gasoline cars to sell, won't represent its products properly or aggressively enough. Dealers pressed to make quick sales will likely be tempted to steer customers to gasoline cars rather than explain the benefits of the Model S, Diarmuid O'Connell, Tesla's vice president for business development, told CNNMoney last month.
"From the beginning, Tesla's goal has been to catalyze the market for electric vehicles, and selling through intermediaries at this stage of the company will not work," Tesla said Friday.
First Published: June 21, 2013: 6:31 PM ET
| By Jonathan Noble | Friday, June 21st 2013, 17:06 GMT |
Ferrari has suggested it is 'perplexed' by the decision of the FIA International Tribunal to only hand down a reprimand and young driver test ban to Mercedes for testing of a 2013 Formula 1 car
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| By Jamie O'Leary | Friday, June 21st 2013, 18:29 GMT |
Toyota has 'no idea' whether Audi has already shown its hand at the Le Mans 24 Hours, according to driver Stephane Sarrazin
You have viewed over 20 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Matt Beer | Friday, June 21st 2013, 20:23 GMT |
Sebastien Ogier maintained a serene lead as his Volkswagen team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala dominated Rally Italy's night stages
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| By Gary Watkins | Thursday, June 20th 2013, 17:26 GMT |
Chrysler has unveiled a new racing version of the SRT Viper developed for the FIA GT3 and United SportsCar Racing GT Daytona classes
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| By Jamie O'Leary | Thursday, June 20th 2013, 18:45 GMT |
Audi remains on course for pole position for the Le Mans 24 Hours, despite Toyota's Alex Wurz topping a rain-hit second qualifying session that was shortened due to barrier damage
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| By Sam Tremayne | Thursday, June 20th 2013, 22:29 GMT |
Loic Duval hung on to pole position for the 81st running of the Le Mans 24 Hours, as Audi scored its first lockout of the top three grid spots since 2002 at the circuit
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| Wednesday, June 19th 2013, 17:22 GMT |
Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo was quickest as his team and Suzuki joined Honda's test at Aragon on Wednesday
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| By Jamie O'Leary | Wednesday, June 19th 2013, 17:50 GMT |
Loic Duval headed an all-Audi top three in a Le Mans 24 Hours practice session that was shortened due to a huge accident for GTE driver Tracy Krohn
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| By Sam Tremayne | Wednesday, June 19th 2013, 22:09 GMT |
Loic Duval snatched provisional pole position for the Le Mans 24 Hours in an opening qualifying session that was brought to a premature end by barrier damage at the second Mulsanne chicane
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| By Sam Morgan | Tuesday, June 18th 2013, 15:28 GMT |
Jacques Villeneuve will compete in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Sonoma Raceway this weekend.
The 1997 Formula 1 world champion will step into the #51 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet for NASCAR's first road course event of the season.
It will be Villeneuve's first appearance in NASCAR's premier series since 2010, when he finished 29th at Indianapolis.
"We wanted to put a driver in our #51 Chevrolet who would give us the best chance to win at Sonoma Raceway," said Phoenix Racing team owner James Finch.
"When the opportunity came up to have someone like Jacques Villeneuve in our car, we were very happy to make that happen."
Villeneuve has competed in various road course events in the Nationwide Series, but this will be his first foray into non-oval racing at Cup level.
The 42-year-old came within a whisker of winning the Nationwide race at Montreal last year, but was passed by Justin Allgaier on the final lap and dropped to third.
Phoenix Racing led two laps at Sonoma last year with Kurt Busch, who eventually finished third.
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| By Dan Cross and Jonathan Noble | Tuesday, June 18th 2013, 16:37 GMT |
Jenson Button has faith that he and McLaren can still give home fans something to cheer about in the British Grand Prix, despite recent struggles.
On the back of a disastrous performance in Canada, where McLaren's long-running record of 64 consecutive points finishes came to an end, Button believes the high-speed nature of Silverstone will be a better stomping ground.
And although he is not expecting a miraculous jump to the front of the grid, he reckons the weaknesses of his current car will not be as exposed this time out.
Speaking at Silverstone on Tuesday about his prospects for the British GP, Button said: "There are many things a driver needs to be good at here, but he also needs to be working with a good team and driving a good car.
"With us, this grand prix is going to be a difficult one. But I think we'll be stronger here than the previous races because it is a fast flowing circuit.
"I think we do have OK downforce, but the problem for us has been the ride quality of the car.
"There is a massive amount of movement of the car which really hurts the airflow and hurts the aerodynamics. Here it shouldn't be so much of problem, except for Turn 1 [Abbey] which is going to be a little tricky for us."
Button may be bracing himself for a tougher weekend than he would like, but he insists that he is still looking forward to the June 30 event.
"Even in the difficult times, that are much worse than now, I still love coming to Silverstone because of the support you get from the crowd," he told AUTOSPORT.
"I remember going on stage back in 2008 when we were really poor [with Honda], and still I received massive support, which was really nice and that really helped me for the rest of the season.
"I'm looking forward to racing here and hopefully seeing a full house. We will fight and do the best we can.
"It's going to be very difficult [to get] even a podium, but the most important thing for us is to get the best out of what we have.
"Hopefully that will be enough for the fans we want to do so well for, because they've been so supportive."
| By Gary Watkins | Tuesday, June 18th 2013, 18:57 GMT |
Audi is not going into this weekend's Le Mans 24 Hours believing that Toyota will fail to offer a challenge, according to Oliver Jarvis.
The Audi driver believes that the results of the first two rounds of the World Endurance Championship and the Le Mans test day earlier this month did not produce conclusive evidence that the German manufacturer's R18 e-tron quattro has a performance advantage.
Jarvis, who is making his third Le Mans start this year in the #3 Audi alongside Marc Gene and Lucas di Grassi, said: "Everyone else is saying that Toyota is out of it, but that's not how we are thinking."
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He suggested that the big performance differential between the solo Le Mans-spec Audi and the 2013 Toyota TS030 HYBRID in qualifying at Spa was not representative of the cars' respective race pace.
"We have been quick in qualifying when the tyres were new, but sportscar racing has nothing to do with qualifying," he explained.
"They appear not to be able to get the peak out of the tyre, but it looked like they were better than us in terms of wear over the race at Spa.
"The Toyota looks like it comes alive in the race."
Jarvis also suggested that the Toyota's ability to go further on a tank of fuel in the Silverstone and Spa WEC races could prove crucial.
"If they go one lap longer, then we have to go five or six tenths quicker a lap to make up for that," he continued.
"If they go two laps longer, that's 1.2 seconds."
The results of the Le Mans Test Day the weekend before last were equally inconclusive even though the fastest Audi was five seconds quicker than the best Toyota, according to Jarvis.
He pointed out that the fastest of the Audis undertook a qualifying-lap simulation in the hands of Loic Duval.
"Loic went for a qualifying run, whereas we don't think the Toyotas did," said Jarvis.
"He also got a clear lap, which can be worth three or four seconds around Le Mans."
| Monday, June 17th 2013, 16:24 GMT |
Jorge Lorenzo set the pace for Yamaha at a Barcelona test in which Suzuki made an impressive return to the MotoGP fold.
Lorenzo, who triumphed at the Spanish track on Sunday, moved to the top of the timesheets with a 1m41.904s - more than one second down on Dani Pedrosa's record pole time - two hours from the end.
Even as he did so most eyes were focussed on Suzuki's new MotoGP challenger, codenamed the XRH-1, as it made its first appearance alongside the 2013 field.
Test rider Randy de Puniet improved throughout the day and in the final hour moved to a 1m42.676s, less than eight tenths of a second down on Lorenzo.
The Frenchman, also one of the day's busiest riders with 73 laps, was faster than the satellite machines of Andrea Iannone and Bradley Smith, although the latter left the test early to have surgery on his injured left hand.
Ducati's Nicky Hayden came close to denying Lorenzo top spot late on but eventually had to settle for second, five hundredths of a second down.
The American spent some time trialling a new rear compound developed by Bridgestone.
His late improvement demoted Stefan Bradl, the only Honda rider present at the test, to third.
Bradl will travel to Aragon, where factory riders Pedrosa and Marc Marquez are due to test on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Andrea Dovizioso edged out his old Tech 3 stablemate Cal Crutchlow in the fight for fourth, while behind them Valentino Rossi went sixth fastest, 0.609s down on Lorenzo.
The Italian brought the red flags when he crashed in the afternoon, but he was unhurt and able to resume shortly after.
Aspar Aprilia rider Pol Espargaro was the fastest CRT rider, edging out de Puniet - his 2013 team-mate - to claim seventh.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap Laps 1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m41.904s 54 2. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m41.955s + 0.051s 73 3. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m42.227s + 0.323s 31 4. Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1m42.417s + 0.513s 56 5. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m42.462s + 0.558s 57 6. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m42.513s + 0.609s 57 7. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 1m42.537s + 0.633s 63 8. Randy de Puniet Suzuki 1m42.676s + 0.772s 73 9. Andrea Iannone Pramac Ducati 1m42.697s + 0.793s 65 10. Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 1m43.180s + 1.276s 25 11. Michele Pirro Pramac Ducati 1m43.784s + 1.880s 70 12. Hector Barbera Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m43.899s + 1.995s 54 13. Colin Edwards Forward FTR-Kawasaki 1m44.183s + 2.279s 38 14. Karel Abraham Cardion Aprilia 1m44.458s + 2.554s 61 15. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Suter-BMW 1m44.477s + 2.573s 49 16. Michael Laverty PBM-Aprilia 1m44.547s + 2.643s 53 17. Claudio Corti Forward FTR-Kawasaki 1m44.794s + 2.890s 56 18. Yonny Hernandez PBM Aprilia 1m45.078s + 3.174s 36 19. Lukas Pesek Ioda-Suter-BMW 1m47.379s + 5.475s 52
