Coe leaving CdA chamber
COEUR D’ALENE – Jonathan Coe is leaving the Coeur d’Alene Area Chamber of Commerce to become CEO of the chamber in Santa Rosa, Calif.
Coe spent 10 years as the Coeur d’Alene chamber’s general manager. Before that, he spent 14 years at the Sandpoint chamber.
“It’s another top notch chamber in another beautiful area. It’s in the heart of the wine country,” Coe, 56, said of the Santa Rosa job.
Coe said he’ll wrap up his work in Coeur d’Alene in late August or early September. He starts the Santa Rosa job on Sept. 14.
The Coeur d’Alene chamber’s board of directors will form a search committee to hire a new manager.
CIT hints trouble despite loan
NEW YORK – CIT Group Inc. said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that it might have to file for bankruptcy protection if not enough bondholders participate in a recently launched debt exchange.
The commercial lender offered the grim assessment only a day after major bondholders agreed to provide it with a $3 billion rescue loan. CIT said that the new loan might not provide enough relief to cover the liquidity squeeze.
CIT said it still needs to pay off about $7 billion in debt maturing over the next year, including $1 billion in August. It has launched an offer to repay that $1 billion in maturing debt at a discount.
Watergate Hotel draws no bids
WASHINGTON – The Watergate Hotel, part of the complex made famous by a presidential scandal, failed to attract any bids at auction Tuesday and was taken back by the lender that held the $40 million note on it.
PB Capital Corp. took back the property after the auction opened at $25 million to a silent room. The lender will now try to find a buyer, said Paul Cooper, vice president of the auction house, Alex Cooper Auctioneers.
Starbucks beats expectations
NEW YORK – Starbucks Corp. said Tuesday that its cost-cutting helped it post a fiscal third-quarter profit better than Wall Street expected, despite lower sales and slower customer traffic.
Investors cheered the results, sending shares up $1.51, or 10.3 percent, to $16.20 in electronic after-hours trading. During regular trading before the results were released, the stock fell 23 cents to $14.69.
The Seattle-based gourmet coffee chain earned $151.5 million in the third quarter, or 20 cents per share, compared with a loss of $6.7 million, or 1 cent per share, a year earlier.
Excluding costs for closing some stores and other special items, Starbucks said it earned 24 cents per share this third quarter, compared with 16 cents per share a year earlier. Revenue fell 7 percent.