MGM Mirage (MGM.N) is looking to divest its 50 percent stake in the Borgata casino resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing a person with knowledge of the negotiations.

The Journal said the casino operator has been looking for buyers but has not reached a deal, according to two people with knowledge of the talks.

An MGM spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Journal said MGM has faced scrutiny from New Jersey gaming regulators due its business partner in Macau. [ID:nN19429283]

MGM hopes its plan to sell its Atlantic City interests will convince New Jersey regulators to curtail their oversight of the company, the Journal said, adding that any additional scrutiny had the potential to cause problems with MGM Mirage’s business elsewhere.

The casino operator is pushing ahead with its plan to list its Macau operations on the Hong Kong stock exchange, hoping to raise up to $500 million as early as the second quarter of this year.

The economy grew faster than expected at the end of last year, though the engine of that growth — companies replenishing stockpiles — is likely to weaken as consumers keep a lid on spending.

The 5.7 percent annual growth rate in the fourth quarter was the fastest pace since 2003, The Commerce Department reported today. It is the strongest evidence to date that the worst recession since the 1930s ended last year, though an academic panel that dates recessions has yet to declare an end to it.

The two straight quarters of growth followed a record four quarters of decline. Still, the expansion in the fourth quarter was fueled by companies refilling depleted stockpiles, a trend that will eventually fade. Some economists worry that when that happens, the recovery could

Growth exceeded expectations mainly because business spending on equipment and software jumped 13.3 percent — much more than forecast. It’s the second quarter in a row that business spending has increased, after six quarters of decline.

The report provided an upbeat end to an otherwise dismal year: The nation’s economy declined 2.4 percent in 2009, the largest drop since 1946. That’s the first annual decline since 1991. Read the rest of this entry »

…OR CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFECTIVE PUBLIC RELATIONS PRACTITIONER

In most savvy and mature organizations today, the public relations function is accorded a prominent role in management decision making. Frequently, the senior public relations manager reports directly to top management; generally to the chief executive officer. The reason for this is simple: If public relations is to be the interpreter of management, then it must know what management is thinking at any moment on virtually every public issue. If public relations is made subordinate to any other discipline, e.g. marketing, advertising, legal or administration, then its independence, credibility, and, ultimately, value as an objective management counselor will be sacrificed. 

Whereas marketing and advertising groups must, by definition, be defenders of their specific products, the public relations department has no such mandated allegiance. Public relations should be the corporate conscience. An organization’s public relations professionals should enjoy enough autonomy to tell it to management “like it is.” If an idea doesn’t make sense, if a product is flawed, if the general institutional wisdom is wrong, it is the duty of the public relations professional to challenge the consensus. And, in absolute candor, if your company’s PR function isn’t saying “no” with great vigor from time to time, you’re probably not being well served and could well be headed for problems.

This is not to say that advertising, marketing, and all other disciplines shouldn’t enjoy a close partnership with public relations. Clearly, they must. All disciplines must work to maintain their own independence while building long-term, mutually beneficial relationships for the good of the organization. However, public relations should never shirk its overriding responsibility to enhance the organization’s credibility by ensuring that corporate actions are in the public interest. 

Public relations managers should function at the edge of an organization as a liaison between the organization and its external and internal publics. In other words, public relations managers have one foot inside the organization and one outside. Often, this unique position is not only lonely, but also precarious. 

As boundary managers, public relations people support their colleagues by helping them communicate across organizational lines both within and outside the organization. In this way public relations professionals also become systems managers, knowledgeable of and able to deal with the complex relationships inherent in the organization. They must consider the relationship of the organization to its environment: The ties that unite business managers and operations support staff, for example, and the conflicts that separate them. Read the rest of this entry »

Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods  posted a modest increase in December, but the gain was not enough to prevent orders from plunging by a record amount for the entire year.

The Commerce Department reported today that orders for durable goods edged up a slight 0.3 percent last month, a much weaker showing than the 2 percent advance economists had been expecting.

For all of 2009, durable goods orders plunged by 20.2 percent, the largest drop on records that go back to 1992. The decline highlighted the battering that U.S. manufacturers have suffered during the recession.

The 20.2 percent orders decline last year followed a 5.8 percent drop in 2008, the first back-to-back annual declines since 2001 and 2002, a period when the country was also dealing with a recession. Read the rest of this entry »

Madame Speaker, Vice President Biden, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans:
Our Constitution declares that from time to time, the President shall give to Congress information about the state of our union. For two hundred and twenty years, our leaders have fulfilled this duty. They have done so during periods of prosperity and tranquility. And they have done so in the midst of war and depression; at moments of great strife and great struggle.

It’s tempting to look back on these moments and assume that our progress was inevitable – that America was always destined to succeed. But when the Union was turned back at Bull Run and the Allies first landed at Omaha Beach, victory was very much in doubt. When the market crashed on Black Tuesday and civil rights marchers were beaten on Bloody Sunday, the future was anything but certain. These were times that tested the courage of our convictions, and the strength of our union. And despite all our divisions and disagreements; our hesitations and our fears; America prevailed because we chose to move forward as one nation, and one people.

Again, we are tested. And again, we must answer history’s call.

One year ago, I took office amid two wars, an economy rocked by severe recession, a financial system on the verge of collapse, and a government deeply in debt. Experts from across the political spectrum warned that if we did not act, we might face a second depression. So we acted – immediately and aggressively. And one year later, the worst of the storm has passed. Read the rest of this entry »