Fewer Chinese Auto Brands in U.S. Than Predicted
Ten years ago, as new-vehicle sales were slipping and incentives were rising, auto manufacturers faced a potentially greater issue: Chinese brands were gearing up to sell low-cost vehicles in the U.S. that threatened to undercut the established brands. The first Chinese vehicles were due to arrive as early as 2007, and industry analysts said it was almost certain they would be here by 2010. Fast forward to 2016, and the only Chinese...
Conagra Playing Catch Up With Major U.S. Food Companies
In the 10 months since taking the helm at Conagra Foods Inc., Sean Connolly has sold a private-label unit for $2.7 billion, announced plans to spin off a business that supplies potatoes to fast-food chains, and decided to move the company’s headquarters to Chicago from Omaha, Neb. So why this flurry of changes? Conagra, it turns out, has a lot of catching up to do. In recent years, other big U.S. food and beverage companies, including...
Abbott Labs Enters the Crowded Snack Market
Abbott Laboratories, the world’s largest maker of heart stents and adult nutritional beverages, is doubling down on the crowded $6.2 billion U.S. snack market with a line of six bars it hopes will grow into a new brand of wide- ranging products. The Curate snacks — including a chocolate-quinoa-hemp seeds bar and another one combining mission figs and balsamic vinegar — will start selling this month, with additional children’s choices...
Toymakers Turn to YouTube
San Diego — Children used to gravitate toward the Rokenbok display at mom-and-pop stores to get their hands on the toymaker’s monorail sets, robots and battery-powered dump trucks. But as big retailers like Wal-Mart and Target drove many of those specialty stores out of business several years ago, the San Diego area toy brand struggled to give shoppers a close look at their pricey play sets, which can cost hundreds of dollars. That’s...
Marriott to Buy Starwood, Creating the World’s Largest Hotel Company
Marriott International, the Bethesda, Md.-based hotel behemoth, said Monday it has agreed to buy Starwood Hotels & Resorts in a $12.2 billion deal that would create the world’s largest hotel company. The combined hotelier would own or franchise 5,500 properties and be the only company to have more than 1 million hotel rooms. The cash and stock purchase marks the largest hotel deal since the private equity firm Blackstone Group...
