Chicago's Talon Merchant Capital announced today that it's now the proud owner of the company that makes Lava lamps. Technically, they're called Lava Lites. The company is going back to calling itself Lava Lite LLC after years as Lava World International, which according to a press release "'reflects a desire to return to our roots similar to Coca-Cola's move with 'classic coke.'" Back in the day, there were all different kinds of Lava options: a......

Get ready for WiMax to blanket our region with delicious, wherever-you-want speedy internet connections (provided you have a WiMax-enabled device). Come to mama. Sprint and Clearwire Corporation announced that they're teaming up to form Clearwire, a new wireless communication company that's all about WiMax, which is like Wifi on awesome sauce. Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House Networks invested a combined $3.2 billion in the new venture, and Chicago gets first dibs on......

Red Bull has won a $680,000 lawsuit against Wet, a Loop bar that served its clubby patrons a different energy sauce when they ordered Red Bull. A manager at the company was at Wet and asked for a vodka Red Bull. She was served a vodka...Other Thing. From the Trib: [Red Bull employee Angela] Latino asked the bartender if it was made with Red Bull from a can. The bartender replied that it was made......

Talk about your major deals. Mars, Inc. is set to buy the Wm. Wrigley Corporation for $22 billion. The deal is being fueled by some serious seed money from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. The deal, which isn't inked yet, would signal a serious sea change in the snack food and candy market as prices for both sugar and milk are on the rise. It could also spur further consolidation within the confectionery industry, as Hershey......

And it is true: both dailies are reporting that Goose Island will close down its flagship brewpub on Clybourn by the end of the year, after losing its lease. The brewpub, which founder John Hall opened in 1988, has survived demolition of the buildings surrounding it (and inspired one of Goose Island's signature brands); served as an anchor for the rapid retail development of the Clybourn corridor; attracted beer lovers from around the world; brewed......

Sometimes, naming-rights deals for parts of stadiums make a fair amount of sense by pairing a sponsoring brand that corresponds to the use of the area and the demographics of the fans. The Bud Light bleachers at Wrigley Field is a good example. Another good example had been the Cadillac Club, the upscale lounge for premium seat fans at the Bears' Soldier Field. The Bears, however, are now dumping Cadillac in favor of United Airlines......

Motorola is splitting into two companies, creating a "broadband & mobility solutions" company, which includes wireless infrastructure, cable TV boxes and walkie-talkies, and a mobile devices company, which is cell phones. The split will probably happen in 2009, and it's not really a huge surprise--the company has been talking about doing this for months. It's been a rough couple of years at the Schaumburg-based company. Motorola laid off 7,500 employees last year, the CEO resigned,......

To paraphrase Merle Haggard, "It's not close, but it's not bad." A Sonic Drive-In franchisee has chosen to set up the first greater Chicago area franchise of the venerable fast food chain in Aurora, in a retail development at Kirk and Butterfield Roads anchored by a Wal-Mart. You know, so the NASCAR set doesn't feel homesick. Seriously, we're pretty stoked for this. The Sonic double cheeseburger with chili and tater tots on the side is......

Image Courtesy Javaholics.net. We were sent a link to a Sun-Times story yesterday that made us feel old. Not the story, mind you. We can't tell you the last time we saw a jar of Postum at a grocery store, either. It was probably that raging demand for cereal-based instant coffee substitute that led Kraft to stop producing it during the winter. That it's only being reported now makes us ask the old "if......

Maurice Lenell Cookies are the source of many childhood memories, usually involving the way those bone dry pinwheels, jelly stars and other cookies could soak up a pot of coffee and still crack your teeth if you bit down on them. Lenell cookies are ubiquitous staples of local homes come Christmastime. In fact, we can't remember seeing them past the holidays in recent years. Even so, it's sad to see that both the Lenell cookie......

We've been sort of "meh" about the news of Roundy's Supermarkets coming to town, mainly because, rather than set up stores in neighborhoods that need them, the enormogrocer instead decided to set up shop in a neighborhood that wasn't exactly clamoring for another grocer. Yesterday's Sun-Times contained a follow-up to Roundy's plans for Chicago, including reservations from CEO Robert Mariano that one of the locations raised by the city the former Carson Pirie Scott building,......

Governor Blagojevich delivered his State of the State and budget address today. He wants to pass a capital bill based on privatizing the Illinois lottery, and says he has "three clear and achievable goals" for our state's economy: 1. "Invest in our infrastructure" 2. "Relief for families" and 3."Tax cuts for businesses." As we comb through the speech (more later today or tomorrow), here's a breakdown of how many times Blago uttered these words: Economics,......

The Illinois High School Association is coming under fire from the media this week with a story in the Reader and an editorial in the Trib about the organization's recent decision to ban photographers from high school sporting events unless they sign a document promising not to sell their photos. Yikes. The IHSA has a contract with VIP, a Wisconsin-based photography firm that takes photos at high school sporting events and sells them to athletes......

Dear Kraft Foods, We just wanted to offer you congratulations on the momentous occasion of seeing instant macaroni and cheese turn 70. That's a long time to be on top of your game. We're slightly more than half your age and can't remember the last time we made mac and cheese directly out of the box. It's safe to say that we can't remember the last time we partook of the orange goblin mélange that......

Our winter just became more tolerable with the news that chocolate maker Barry Callebaut A.G. is opening a chocolate academy in Chicago. The academy, slated to open in June, will be in Callebaut's local headquarters in the Montgomery Ward building on West Chicago in River West and fulfills the company's desire to have an academy in the United States. Barry Callebaut does about $3.6 billion in sales worldwide (some readers might remember them from our......

Sha na na na, sha na na na, Sears CEO Aylwin Lewis. Lewis's official last day is Saturday, but his bank account won't know the difference--he'll be collecting his $1 million salary and benefits through 2010. But that's just cause he did so well a godawful job that led to four quarters of net losses. Burn! Things could be worse for Lewis, though. He could be one of the Sears employees from Hoffman Estates who......

U of C Business School Assistant Professor Nicholas Epley has been on faculty at the GSB for three years, but this week he's been making headlines around the world. Today's Financial Times profiles Epley as a "professor to watch," focusing on his application of behavioral science methods to business education. According to the article, Epley's brand of mind-reading, which basically amounts to knowing one's coworkers, "looks at how people intuit others' thoughts, how good they......

Just days after the death of his father, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger has indicated that he may agree to give control of the county hospitals to an independent agency. Stroger's chief of staff Lance Tyson told Crain's Chicago Business "the intent is to take health services for the poor out of the sphere of politics and put it into a sphere of greater business expertise." The proposal to turn the county's health care......

GrubHub users concerned about how your Thai food delivery impacts the environment needn't fear. Last week the online restaurant delivery service began purchasing carbon credits to offset the environmental costs involved with delivering to customers here and in San Francisco. Grubhub is purchasing the credits from a local company, Carbon Solutions Group. Carbon credits are a form of emissions trading used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in emissions. GrubHub has......

When Hyde Park Co-Op opted to take the buyout plan proffered by the University of Chicago last month, we knew that the university would act fast to fill the space with a grocery store that would better serve the needs of Hyde Park residents. With yesterday's convenient announcement through the U of C Chronicle that they signed a lease with Treasure Island to fill the space, it almost seems as though the university had the......

Further evidence that Macy’s strategies are not headed in the successful direction executives hoped, Macy’s North, the division that operates Macy’s in the Midwest, announced Friday the layoff of 271 employees, citing lagging sales. Combined sales for November and December were down 1.1%, while December’s sales were down 7.9%, significantly worse than the anticipated 4 to 7 percent drop over last year. January’s same day sales are expected to dip 4 to 6 percent. 100......

During Chicagoist's middle and high school years, there was nothing cooler than owning the latest pair of Air Jordans ... or so we thought. But we had a number of pairs of Jordans over the years and it likely didn't have much impact on which table we got to eat lunch at. Maybe because everybody else had them, too? The Air Jordans revolutionized the shoe industry and sports when MJ became the first athlete to......

If Fox & Obel's new owners have their way, you'll be seeing a lot more of the gourmet markets throughout the city in the near future. The Sun-Times reports that Vulpes LLC, an investment group, bought out Fox & Obel and is earmarking an aggressive expansion campaign. Vulpes is headed by Bill Bolton, who has experience running Jewel-Osco and its parent company Supervalu. If Mr. Bolton is open for location suggestions, there's an recently closed......

Does it surprise anyone by now a lobby might donate money to a politician's campaign fund as a "favor" for supporting their special interest? If not, we can move on. What is shocking is the amount of money wine lobbies around the country throw at politicians around the country in the interest of passing laws geared toward "wholesale protection", tightening their grip on the three-tier distribution system. The Specialty Wine Retailers Association released a report......

In November we took a look at La-Van Hawkins, a Chicago-born restaurateur who made a fortune in fast food franchises. Hawkins was planning on opening a slew of Nancy's Pizza and Al's Italian Beef franchises on the South Side even as he was waiting to be sentenced to 33 months in prison on corruption charges. We should have known something was fishy in DenmarkStony Island. Hawkins' plans took a hit when he recently closed seven......

From today’s Sun-Times: joining the ranks of Weight Watchers (sorry, “don’t call it a diet”, although Valerie Bertinelli on the Jenny Craig plan is looking fierce these days), NutriSystem, and Seattle Sutton in town are the Mike George Fitness System personal chef Program and Alter EatGo. The latter is the idea of entrepreneur Eric Meredith, whose clients pay for their weekly meals up front online. Alter EatGo targets African Americans with 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000......

Things are looking up in Margaritaville! We know, we know, wrong Buffett--but we always think Jimmy first. Sorry, Warren. Go cry in your mountain of money. Anyhow, one of the world's richest men but only second-most-famous Buffett is making a $4.5 billion deal with Chicago's own Uncle Money Pants, the Pritzkers. Buffett is buying a 60 percent share in the Pritzker's Marmon Holdings, Inc. Over the next five or six years, he's going to buy......

The numbers to the left tell the story. Hyde Park Co-Op shareholders voted by a wide margin in favor of a buyout by the University of Chicago and close the store by the end of January. Under terms of the proposal, which can be viewed here, Hyde Park Co-Op is absolved of the $1.2 million back rent it owes U of C on its 55th Street location, will pay a one-time payment of $1 million......

On Tuesday a federal judge approved a $24.8 million deal which allows Pennsylvania-based Snyder's of Hanover to buy Jays Potato chips. The deal brings closure to the local potato chip icon's second Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in four years and speculation that a deal with Snyder's would even be allowed because of the bankruptcy filing. As part of the fallout of the deal, Jays' longtime production facility on the far south side closed yesterday, leaving......

Brewer Larry Bell...