Muzak Holdings Inc., the Fort Mill-based company that provides the background music heard in many elevators and retail businesses, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company announced today.
Muzak, which relocated to Fort Mill from Seattle in 2000, is seeking to restructure its debt. Operations will continue as usual, the company said in a press release.
Muzak had $105 million in secured bank debt that was due today, part of $440 million worth of debt due between February and March, The Charlotte Observer reported.
Last month, Muzak said it had received a 22-day extension on the $105 million debt. The company said today that it and Muzak’s major creditor constituencies are committed to completing restructuring negotiations, according to The Observer.
Muzak has 1,250 employees, including 550 in Fort Mill. It designs and installs professional sound systems for businesses, and provides other services, such as promotional music for corporate branding.
Cost pressures expected to ease on cotton
02/10/2009
Even when the cotton industry catches a break, such as a drop in oil prices, the news isn’t all good.
Takes this story in Southeastern Farm Press, which claims that while the recent drop in oil costs has meant reduced fuel prices for cotton farmers, it also has meant that polyester prices have slipped as well.
Polyester, of course, is a major cotton competitor.
Last year was an expensive one for cotton growers due, in part, to crude oil prices rising above $140 a barrel and sending retail gasoline and diesel prices soaring last spring, the publication reported.
“One of the few bright spots in recent months has been the decline in energy prices,” National Cotton Council executive Gary Adams told Farm Press, noting crude oil prices have fallen back in the range of $1.30 per gallon, and diesel prices have declined to levels more in line with those of 2006 and 2007.
“Looking at 2009, the latest projections by the U.S. Department of Energy call for oil prices to stay near current levels,” he added. “They project retail diesel prices in the range of $2.50 per gallon.”
South Financial says Harton’s ‘The Man’
02/10/2009
The South Financial Group finally took the interim tag off Lynn Harton’s job title, naming him chief executive and president of the struggling Greenville-based financial services company Monday.
Initial reaction, however, wasn’t strong. On Tuesday, South Financial shares fell 40 cents, or 20 percent, to $1.54, which marked an all-time low.
Harton, who joined South Financial after founder Mack Whittle took a golden parachute last year, will have his work cut out for him. The company lost $569 million during 2008, saw its share price fall precipitously and jumped onboard the Treasury Department’s bailout program to the tune of $347 million.
The early reaction on TSFG’s stock message board to Harton’s promotion appears to be guarded but positive.
“Harton has many good qualities,” wrote one long-time poster who goes by the nom de plume of “Spork.” “The issue for me is, does he have the best leadership style for jerking this puppy up and moving it forward again?”
South Financial’s fate is important to South Carolina because it is the largest bank company headquartered in the state, with more than $13.5 billion in assets.
WIS ‘breaks’ story on winter storm of 1973
02/10/2009
More breaking local television news: it snowed hard here in the Midlands 36 years ago.
That’s one of the top stories under “latest headlines” on the WIS website this morning, complete with quotes, photos and a video clip.
Here are some of the breathtaking details:
“Ask anyone who lived here in 1973, and they’ll have a story about Feb. 9.
“On that day, South Carolinians witnessed the biggest winter weather event to happen in the state.”
That event? Snow. A good bit of snow, to be certain, but it was 3-1/2 half decades ago.
The television station provided its usual pathetic array of sources for the story, actually going so far as to quote its own staff, weatherman Joe Pinner and sportscaster Rick Henry.
The only individual quoted in the print version of the story who wasn’t on the WIS staff was someone who didn’t actually recall the snow, but instead recounted what his father had told him about it.
The story then concluded with this zen-like admonition: “So the next time you say ‘let it snow,’ be careful what you wish for.”
Brilliant work, WIS. Simply brilliant.
