Bankrupt Fisker Automotive sells assets at $139 million loss to U.S.
Fisker Automotive Inc., whose $103,000 plug-in hybrid car was driven by celebrities including Justin Bieber, filed for bankruptcy with plans to be acquired by a group said to include Richard Li, son of Hong Kong’s richest man.
Hybrid Technology LLC, a newly formed group, paid $25 million to win a U.S. Energy Department auction to take over Fisker’s defaulted taxpayer loan. The group includes Li, according to two U.S. government officials who were briefed on the deal and asked not to be named because the terms are private.
U.S. taxpayers lost $139 million of the $192 million Fisker received.
"After having evaluated and pursued all other alternatives, we believe the sale to Hybrid and the related Chapter 11 process is the best alternative for maximizing Fisker Automotive’s value for the benefit of all stakeholders," Marc Beilinson, Fisker chief restructuring officer, said Friday in a statement.
The Anaheim, Calif.-based company listed assets of as much as $500 million and debt of as much as $1 billion in a Chapter 11 petition filed Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Fisker’s assets include a shuttered General Motors Co. factory in Wilmington that the company was supposed to reopen.
TGI Fridays sale under consideration
Carlson, the global hospitality and travel company, said Friday that it had authorized a review of strategic alternatives including a possible sale of TGI Fridays restaurants.
"Capitalizing on Fridays’ strong marketplace momentum, the board has determined that this is the optimum time to assess its options for the iconic restaurant brand, including a possible sale," Trudy Rautio, the president and chief executive of Carlson, said in a statement.
As part of the evaluation process, the board has selected Piper Jaffray to serve as its financial adviser, according to the statement.
TGI Fridays operates more than 900 restaurants in more than 60 countries and has annual sales of more than $2.5 billion.
The only two TGI Fridays in Hawaii — one on Ward Avenue and one in Waikiki — shut down in June 2007.
TOTAL RECALL
About 600,000 Angelcare Movement and Sound Baby Monitors are being recalled. The recall involves all versions of Angelcare sensor monitors including model numbers: AC1100, AC201, AC300, AC401, AC601 and 49255 that did not include rigid cord covers, which are offered in the remedy. The model number is on the back of the nursery monitor unit. The monitors were made between 1999 and 2013.
The cord attached to the baby monitor’s sensor pad is placed under the crib mattress, which poses a strangulation risk if the child pulls the cord into the crib and it becomes wrapped around the neck. There have been two infant cord strangulation deaths. In both fatalities, the cord from the sensor pads was pulled into the crib by the infant.
Call Angelcare at 855-355-2643 or visit www.angelcarebaby.com and click on the safety notice section.
‘Dinosaur’ delay prompts Pixar cuts
LOS ANGELES » Disney subsidiary Pixar has laid off up to 5 percent of its 1,200 employees after it pushed back the release of "The Good Dinosaur" to November 2015 from next May.
That’s according to a person familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter involved personnel. The Walt Disney Co. released a statement saying Pixar is always re-evaluating its creative and business needs.
The delay of "The Good Dinosaur" means 2014 will be the first year since 2005 that Pixar hasn’t released an animated movie.
