DETROIT - General Motors Corp. is preparing a tougher debt-for-equity exchange offer for its unsecured bondholders that could be presented as early as next week, according to people familiar with the matter. The company is considering offering only equity, but no cash or new debt in GM, representing a significant reduction compared to an offer
NEW YORK - Economists in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey expect the recession to end in September, though most say it won't be until the second half of 2010 that the economy recovers enough to bring down unemployment. Gross domestic product was predicted to contract in the first and second quarters of this
LANSING - The Michigan Administrative Board has approved the first infrastructure project to use federal stimulus funds, but in doing so is now giving the Department of Transportation more leeway to approve competitively bid highway contracts in an effort to get as much of the state's share of those dollars through the pipeline as possible
BURLINGAME, Calif.- It's ugly out there in tech land. The recession has so far forced Yahoo! and Microsoft to lay off thousands; Oracle, Intel, Cisco and others are pruning their workforces too. Even the august Google has pared away at least 200 jobs in sales and several thousand part-time contractor jobs. Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray
LANSING - The companies and other entities receiving start-up grants and loans in 2006 under the state's 21st Century Jobs Fund created over 1,000 jobs between 2007 and 2008, according to a performance report about the fund recently given to lawmakers. When the businesses, universities and non-profit organizations were awarded $120 million in the fall
LANSING - With just three weeks left for Chrysler LLC to meet a deadline set by President Barack Obama to finalize an arrangement with the Italian auto-maker Fiat, Gov. Jennifer Granholm has called on those that hold the car company's debt to agree to concessions on those bonds. Speaking in Washington, D.C., Granholm said the
LANSING - The Michigan House met a deadline to act on some of its originating budgets for the 2009-10 fiscal year by passing five bills Thursday, and knowing that revenues are down for the current fiscal year by as much as $1 billion, the chamber took out the clippers and trimmed $30 million in general
LANSING - With a House vote Thursday, the state's second round of spending federal stimulus dollars - $1.9 billion in all - is heading to the desk of Gov, Jennifer Granholm. Acting just before it broke for a two-week recess, the chamber signed off on Senate alterations, which included stripping $108 million in energy programs
LANSING - The Michigan Economic Development Corporation this week awarded Biotechnology Business Consultants, Automation Alley, Michigan Tech Enterprise Corporation SmartZone, and the Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest each a $500,000 grant to help support the critical business services the organizations provide to technology entrepreneurs and companies in Michigan. Each group will use the grant to help
LANSING - The Michigan Economic Development Corporation Friday announced it has awarded Kettering University, Wayne State University Research and Tech Park (TechTown), Ann Arbor SPARK, Oakland University and the Michigan Research Institute each a $250,000 grant to support their business incubators. The funding was appropriated by the Legislature and approved by the Michigan Strategic Fund.