Maniolas

A customer carries out her purchases from a Family Dollar store in Jackson, Mississippi.  AP                                                                                          CHESAPEAKE (AP) – Family Dollar is rejecting Dollar General’s latest acquisition offer, and Dollar Tree says it will now divest as many stores as needed to get antitrust clearance for its deal to buy Family Dollar. Family Dollar rejected an earlier offer of nearly $9 billion from Dollar General, with the Goodlettsville, Tennessee, discounter then boosting its bid to $9.1 billion. Dollar General – the nation’s biggest dollar-store chain – had also revised its proposal to increase the number of stores it would be willing to divest and to include a $500 million reverse break-up fee to Family Dollar if the deal hit antitrust roadblocks. But Family Dollar said Friday that it still has antitrust concerns. Dollar General said in a statement that it is still committed to acquiring Family Dollar and is evaluating its next steps. Family Dollar has been looking for a lifeline after running into some financial stress, shuttering stores and cutting prices. In June one big shareholder, Carl Icahn, urged the Matthews, North Carolina-based company to put itself up for sale. A month later Family Dollar Stores Inc. accepted an $8.5 billion deal with Chesapeake, Virginia-based Dollar Tree Inc. The transaction includes $59.60 in cash and the equivalent of $14.90 in shares of Dollar Tree for each share held. The companies valued the transaction at $74.50 per share at the time. Including debt and other costs, Family Dollar Read More …

WASHINGTON (AP) — A surprising drop in hiring and in the number of people seeking work in August sent a reminder that the US economic recovery is still prone to temporary slowdowns. Employers added just 142,000 jobs last month, well below the 212,000 average of the previous 12 months. The unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent from 6.2 percent. But that was because more people without jobs stopped looking for one and were no longer counted as unemployed. Analysts took Friday’s Labor Department report in stride. They noted that other gauges of the economy – from manufacturing and construction to auto sales – remain solid. Layoffs have dwindled, too. Analysts also noted that month-to-month volatility in hiring is common even in a healthy economy. But the dip in hiring also suggests that, though the Great Recession officially ended more than five years ago, the economy has yet to shed some of its lingering weaknesses. Held back by sluggish pay growth, for example, consumers continue to spend cautiously. Most economists foresee an economy that’s poised to make further strides, punctuated at times by modest setbacks. The figures “will inevitably spark speculation that the US recovery is somehow coming off the rails again,” said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics. “However, we’re not too concerned by what is probably just an isolated blip.” Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The report showed the smallest job gains in eight months. The weaker-than-expected numbers make it unlikely that the Federal Read More …