State Bill Could Cap Gas Prices for Weeks
Frustrated by soaring gasoline prices, two of California’s top elected officials proposed legislation Thursday designed to crack down on consumer gouging by allowing a temporary price cap in times of “abnormal market disruption,” the Sacramento Bee reports. Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Assembly Speaker Fabian N & #250; & #324;ez jointly proposed the measure, Assembly Bill 457, in response to pump prices that have jumped by more than $1 per gallon since January. But critics lambasted AB 457 as election-year grandstanding, with one claiming it could exacerbate the crisis and perhaps spark long lines at gasoline pumps.
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Speculation Over Possible Asset Sale Endangers Buyback
Tribune Co.’s $2-billion share buyback plan appeared threatened Thursday as the company’s stock price edged higher amid speculation that a larger restructuring lies ahead, the Los Angeles Times reports. Tribune shares rose for a second day after reports that the Chandler family of Los Angeles, a major shareholder, opposes the Chicago media company’s plan to repurchase as much as 25 percent of its stock. The shares gained $1.27 to $31.58, approaching the maximum of $32.50 that Tribune said it would be willing to pay under the current tender offer. The boardroom schism “could discourage some investors from tendering in the hope of realizing a higher price due to more aggressive asset sales” or a sale of the entire company, JPMorgan analyst Frederick Searby wrote to clients. Tribune said it would press on with the “Dutch auction” tender offer, in which shareholders say what price they want the company to pay them for their shares.
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Boffo Debut Expected for ‘Cars’
When it comes to striking gold at the box office, a Pixar Animation Studios movie is about as sure a thing as death, taxes and getting popcorn kernels stuck between your teeth.=, the Los Angeles Daily News reports. The latest Pixar title, “Cars,” opening in 3,800 locations in the United States and Canada today, carries with it some lofty expectations. All six previous Pixar movies have been major box-office hits, with 2003’s “Finding Nemo” the highest-grosser of them all at $339.7 million. Box-office analyst Robert Bucksbaum expects “Cars” to open in the mid-$70 million range on its way to a final domestic gross of about $275 million. This weekend has “Cars” competing with a crowded menu at the multiplex that also includes the horror remake “The Omen,” which opened Tuesday with a record $12.6 million in ticket sales, the second weekend of the romantic comedy “The Break-Up,” and the still-popular “X-Men: The Last Stand,” DreamWorks Animation’s “Over the Hedge” and the religious thriller “The Da Vinci Code.”
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