1. BUFFETT SCOOPS UP THE REST OF IMC FOR $2 BILLION
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is spending $2.05 billion on the remaining 20 percent of Israeli metalworking company IMC. The Wertheimer family, which founded the business, sold 80 percent to Berkshire in 2006 for $4 billion in what was Warren Buffett's first overseas acquisition. The company has since doubled in value. "As you can surmise from the price we're paying for the remaining interest, IMC has enjoyed very significant growth over the last seven years," Buffett said in a statement. [Wall Street Journal]
...............................................................................................................................................
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
2. JC PENNEY RELEASES NEW AD: "COME BACK"
After losing nearly a third of its customers in 2012, JC Penney released an ad on its YouTube channel late last night, asking customers to give the beleaguered retailer another chance. "We learned a very simple thing: to listen to you, to hear what you need, to make your life more beautiful," says the video's narrator. "Come back to JC Penney. We heard you. Now, we'd love to see you." [Business Insider]
...............................................................................................................................................
3. NETFLIX LOSES 1,800 MOVIE TITLES
About 1,800 movie titles are expiring from Netflix's licensing agreements today, in what some are calling "Streamageddon." Netflix, however, is trying to cast this shedding as part of the natural "churn" at the company, and points out that 500 new titles will be made available today, too. Wall Street doesn't seem too worried: Shares are down just 1.5 percent, still up 161 percent from this time last year. [Fortune]
...............................................................................................................................................
4. ORGANIX HAIR CARE COMPANY CAN'T FIND A BUYER
Last year, the owner of Organix hair care company, Vogue International, hired Goldman Sachs to help them find a buyer. But according to a new report, the company hasn't been able to drum up enough interest, at least in part because Organix is, well, not organic. The label, which sold about $250 million in hair products last year, has attracted lawsuits alleging misleading branding. To sell in California, where one such lawsuit is based, the bottle must now say "OGX" on the front, and "formerly Organix" in smaller lettering on the back. [Wall Street Journal]
...............................................................................................................................................
5. YAHOO CEO MARISSA MAYER EXPANDS MATERNITY AND PATERNTIY LEAVE
Two months after she controversially banned telecommuting, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is expanding the tech giant's benefits program for maternity and paternity leave. Under the new plan, mothers can take 16 weeks of paid leave with benefits, and fathers can take up to eight weeks. Yahoo will also give new parents $500 for expenses, as well as some Yahoo-branded baby gifts. The plan almost doubles paid leave for women, but still falls short of the benefits offered at Facebook and Google. [NBC]
