| Movie Gallery Inc. to push back bankruptcy emergence by months
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones/AP) - Movie Gallery Inc.'s bankruptcy reorganization will take months longer to complete than the company initially expected. The movie-rental company on Wednesday won final court approval to borrow $150 million from Goldman Sachs Credit Partners to finance its Chapter 11 reorganization. A judge also cleared the way for the company to proceed with a $50 million stock-rights offering backed by Sopris Capital Advisors, a private equity firm. But its Chapter 11 plan will not be delivered to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Va., by the mid-November deadline the company initially set for itself. That plan won't be filed before Nov. 27, the company has told a judge, according to Meaghan Repko, a spokeswoman for Movie Gallery. Moreover, Movie Gallery doesn't expect to exit bankruptcy protection before the second quarter of 2008, Repko said.
Who will pick up the thread after the great unwinding?
Is the US going to experience a recession? Two answers must be given to this question: nobody can be sure; and it does not matter. A much more important question is whether the US economy continues to experience a “growth recession", by which is meant a lengthy period of sub-trend growth. The answer is that it will. The standard US definition of a recession is two quarters of negative economic growth. This demands both too much and too little: too much because it requires an absolute fall in output, which is an infrequent event in a growing economy; too little, because it is consistent with rising unemployment and declining capacity utilisation. But a lengthy growth recession is likely to be far more disturbing even than a sharp recession, provided the latter ends swiftly. Most analysts believe that the trend rate of growth of the US economy is around 3 per cent a year.
Current-year state revenues rebound, despite debt woes
A report released yesterday painted a surprisingly rosy picture of the state's immediate budget outlook even as state legislators are debating the best way to whittle down the state's heavy debt burden. With the economy still reeling from a downturn in housing, high oil prices, and other factors, revenues are slumping in many states. California officials said this week they face a $10 billion deficit over the next two years due to lagging revenues, including a $2 billion hole in their current budget. New Jersey officials are projecting a potential shortfall of up to $3 billion next year, and Gov. Jon Corzine has asked departments to find potential cuts equal to about 9 percent of the total budget to help close the gap. They say this year's budget ap pears to be holding steady so far.
Bangkok Transit Authority to lay off 6,000 bus staff
File photo shows a Thai woman looking out a bus window in Bangkok. The state-run Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMA) announced Monday that one-third of its staff, or 6,000 people, would be laid off under a restructuring plan aimed at cutting huge losses. .
Restructure global financial architecture: Mbeki
Durban, Nov 19 (PTI) South African President Thabo Mbeki today stressed on the need for restructuring the world's financial architecture in order to remove global imbalances.
Addressing a two-day meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors at Kleinmond near Cape Town, Mbeki said few nations would disagree with the need for a restructuring of the world's financial make-up.
"I have no doubt that many of us are united around the vision of a new model of multilateralism which harvests individual and collective knowledge and best practices, to promote economic and social advances for the benefit of the entirety of the global community of nations".
The G20 represents nearly 90 per cent of the world economy and two thirds of its population and trade.
Bioject Announces Convertible Debt Financing
Bioject Medical Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq:BJCT), a leading developer of needle-free injection therapy systems, today announced it has entered into convertible debt financing with Mr. Ed Flynn, a private investor, who will be rejoining the Board of Directors. In addition to the funding provided by Mr. Flynn, Bioject�s CEO and other executive officers and a member of the Board are also participating in this round of funding. Pursuant to these agreements, the Company has received or has commitments to receive an aggregate of $615,000. Mr. Flynn, a private investor and previous Board member of Bioject, has provided additional funding to assist in moving the Company forward as the new CEO pursues new opportunities. The funds will give Bioject financial strength to carry it into the next year, allowing Bioject to expand its needle-free technology with current collaborators as well as to seek new opportunities.
Waste Management fined $1M over emissions
Waste Management Inc. will pay the state $1 million over charges that it violated smog laws and bypassed emission tests for diesel soot. Investigators said the Houston-based company (NYSE:WMI - News), which has several thousand garbage trucks in California and is the largest trash-hauling company in the nation, wasn't able to provide evidence of testing in cities that included Santa Clara, Palo Alto, Hollister, Santa Cruz, Alameda, Livermore and Dublin. Diesel soot, which can worsen respiratory problems, is a carcinogenic. Published November 21, 2007 by the Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal .
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