A Private Dilemma: Inside the Struggle of Private Equity-Owned Companies

“Private-equity (PE) firms run something of a shell game,” says Josh Kosman, author of “The Buyout of America: How private equity will cause the next great credit crisis.” “They buy companies with other people’s money by structuring acquisitions like mortgages. The critical difference is that while we pay our mortgages, PE firms have the businesses they buy take the loans, making them responsible for repayment.

Thursday, March 11, 2010
Industry Responds to Merion Township’s Itinerant Merchant Tax

The International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), the SuperPetExpo and the National Association of Consumer Shows have responded to Upper Merion Township’s (King of Prussia, PA) imposition of an itinerant merchant tax, which requires show organizers to pay $30-$50 per exhibitor selling products at exhibitions in the Valley Forge Convention Center. Each organization has written a letter to the township’s board of supervisors, urging them to rescind the tax. According to the industry players, no other township or county across the country imposes such a fee, which is prohibitive to organizers doing business in the area.

Thursday, March 11, 2010
Hotels.com Study: Average Price of Hotel Rooms Fell 14 Percent in 2009

The average price of a hotel room fell 14 percent in 2009 compared with 2008, according to Hotels.com’s Hotel Price Index (HPI) annual report on hotel prices paid around the world. In fact, a hotel room was cheaper in 2009 than it was in 2004, when the HPI first started tracking price data. The rate of decline grew less steep over the year – from 16 percent down in the first quarter to 7 percent down in the fourth quarter.

Thursday, March 11, 2010
Chicago hotel claims union sent cow manure to convention attendees

Chicago’s Congress Plaza Hotel has filed a lawsuit claiming that members of the Unite Here Local 1 sent a heart-shaped package containing cow manure to scientists planning to attend a convention at the hotel to discourage them from participating in the event.

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