December 27, 2000 - To find out more about what's fueling all these mergers Minnesota Public Radion news talked with Mark Sirower. He's a mergers and acquisitions specialist at the Boston Consulting Group and a visiting professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. Sirower says 20 years of academic research shows that 65 percent of mergers don't create value for the aquiring company, while 35 percent do. So if the odds are against a successful merger, why do so many companies walk down the aisle? Sirower says even a bad deal might not be so bad.
December 28, 2000 - December has been a bad month for .coms and January looks even worse.
December 28, 2000 - The University of Minnesota will play North Carolina State in the Micron P-C Dot Com Bowl in Miami at seven o'clock tonight (Thurs). The resurgent football program is in a good position to help improve the financial outlook in a men's athletic department that's run up some big debts in the last few years. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen reports...
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December 29, 2000 - The National Weather Service says we'll be ringing in the new year in bitterly cold weather . According to the forecast, it will be as cold AS 20 below zero this weekend. All around the region people are struggling with higher energy bills. It's been a double whammy this winter: colder than normal temperatures coupled with about a 50 percent increase in the cost of natural gas. There are several ways to cut down on your energy expenses this winter all the while remaining comfortable in your home or apartment. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports...
December 29, 2000 - Salvation Army officials are worried the organization won't meet its 5 (M)millon dollar holiday fundraising goal. By this time last year, the organization had raised 3.7 million dollars compared to 3.2 million this year. Spokeswoman Annette Bauer says Salvation Army workers have spent the past couple weeks trying to figure out why people aren't giving as much this year:
December 29, 2000 - The South Dakota legislature passed legislation today to sell the state-owned cement plant. Governor Bill Janklow announced plans to sell the plant to a Mexican company for 252 million dollars Saturday then called the legislature into special session. Janklow says the sale must be completed by the end of the year. The state has been in the cement business for 80 years. Minnesota Public Radio's Cara Hetland reports.
December 29, 2000 - Governors of the eight Great Lakes States have floated a series of proposals intended to keep Great Lakes water in the five Great Lakes. The plan by the Council of Great Lakes Governors would make it a lot harder to sell water to anyone outside the region. But first, they've got to convince two Canadian provincial governments and a handful of environmental groups the proposals are tough enough. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Kelleher reports: {Great Lakes residents were alarmed two years ago when a private company announced plans to sell ship loads of Lake Superior water to Asia. Few would have missed the water. But it could have established a precedent ... and some predicted future deals might involve much more than a few ship loads at a time.
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January 2, 2001 - Winona Knits announced today it's closing eleven of its twelve retail stores across the country. The company began in the 1970s as an outgrowth of Winona Knitting Mills and sells high-end sweaters, mittens and other apparel. Stores in six states will close but the company will keep its namesake store in Winona. CEO Pete Woodsworth says the closings allow Winona Knits to focus on its internet and catalog divisions: