Airbag problems result in millions of recalls

Honda, Nissan, Mazda and Toyota are recalling millions of cars because of faulty inflators for Takata air bags.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says Honda (HMC), Nissan (NSANF), Toyota (TM), Mazda (MZDAF), Chrysler, Ford (F) and BMW are recalling the vehicles equipped with the airbags made by the Japanese company Takata. The recall follows a NHTSA investigation into six reports of airbag inflator ruptures, all of which occurred in Florida and Puerto Rico.

In a statement last week, the company said it believes high levels of humidity are factors in the inflator problem.

Honda said it is recalling more than 2 million vehicles in the United States. There's a nationwide recall of several models, including Civic, Accord and Odyssey, from 2002 and 2003, as well as recalls limited to certain warm-weather states, as well as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Honda said it knows of one report of injury related to the problem.

Related: Toyota adds 650,000 cars to airbag recall

Nissan (NSANF) said it is recalling 755,000 vehicles, including 228,000 in North America.

Earlier this month, Toyota (TM) also expanded a recall because of the Takata airbags to nearly 2.8 million vehicles.

Chrysler spokesman Nick Cappa said the investigation is ongoing so his company doesn't know how many cars it's going to recall, but it would probably involve the 2006 Dodge Charger.

First Published: June 23, 2014: 1:59 PM ET

08.36 | 0 komentar | Read More

American Apparel CEO hits back

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Dov Charney, the embattled ex-CEO of retailer American Apparel (APP), says he has been approached by company stockholders who have expressed "support for his continued leadership" of the company, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Charney is essentially threatening to shake up the board. If he succeeds he may be able to launch a bid to reclaim his title as CEO.

Charney was fired by the company's board last week after what board member Allan Mayer described as "disturbing" information surfaced that suggested "misconduct" by Charney.

But Charney is not going quietly.

His attorney sent a letter to the board saying the company "violated its legal and contractual obligations to Mr. Charney in numerous respects," resulting in "substantial professional, reputational and financial injuries to Mr. Charney."

Charney, who founded the company back in 1998, is still its largest individual shareholder.

Related: American Apparel board learned of "disturbing misconduct"

Meanwhile, American Apparel has hired the investment banking advisory firm Peter J. Solomon. When asked if that means the company is for sale, a spokesman said "Today's press release speaks for itself."

The retailer said in the statement that the firm was hired to ensure "adequate access to capital."

One dealmaker says American Apparel may have no choice but to sell itself to the highest bidder.

"The path is now open for someone to come in and make an attractive offer for American Apparel to go private," said Lloyd Greif, the CEO of L.A. investment banking firm Greif & Co. "I expect that to happen by the end of the year."

Greif, who's been doing deals for 33 years, says the board will have a fiduciary duty to look at bids from interested buyers and may have "no choice but to sell."

Charney was notorious for controversial behavior, and was named in a series of sexual harassment suits filed by employees in recent years.

American Apparel has been struggling for years. Company shares, which topped $15 in 2007, now trade for less than $1.

First Published: June 23, 2014: 1:17 PM ET

08.36 | 0 komentar | Read More

World Cup gets record U.S. ratings

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The USA-Portugal match on ESPN averaged 18.2 million viewers on Sunday, topping the 11.1 million that tuned in for USA-Ghana on June 16.

Another 6.5 million viewers watched a Spanish-language broadcast of the USA-Portugal match on Univision, according to Nielsen ratings that were released Monday. Combined, the ESPN and Univision telecasts averaged almost 25 million viewers. (Another 1.4 million watched on the cable channel ESPN3.)

All of these audience figures are incomplete, though, because Nielsen does not measure any out-of-home viewing at bars, restaurants or other locations where people have congregated to watch World Cup matches, or any viewing on phones or computers.

ESPN said the live stream of the match via its WatchESPN app added another 490,000 viewers to the total audience.

All of these figures are averages for the duration of the 95-minute match; unsurprisingly, total viewership was lower in the beginning and higher toward the end. ESPN said its viewership peaked between 7:30 and 8 p.m., in the final minutes of the match, when about 23 million viewers tuned in.

Related: Scenarios for the U.S. to advance

ESPN said in a statement that USA-Portugal ranked as "the most-viewed soccer match in the United States ever, across all networks," eclipsing the "previous high of 17,975,000 viewers for the 1999 Women's World Cup final (USA vs. China) on ABC."

Both ABC and ESPN are controlled by The Walt Disney Co. (DIS)

So far, ESPN's ratings are up about 30% compared to the last World Cup in 2010. Univision's ratings are up nearly 50%.

"The whole world's watching right now," former U.S. Men's World Cup player Cobi Jones said Monday on CNN.

Related: The most social sporting event ever

In the U.S., "you're seeing younger generations really following the sport," and that's translating to higher ratings, he said.

The next USA match will be played against Germany at noon ET on Thursday.

First Published: June 23, 2014: 4:09 PM ET

08.36 | 0 komentar | Read More

From cancer survivor to millionaire

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The science teacher and textbook author was fighting off a rare and terminal form of cancer as he watched the Great Recession swallow up 40% of his investment portfolio. Friends in finance warned him to dump his stocks because they feared the Dow would soon plummet from its already depressed 8,000 level to 1,000.

Despite those daunting challenges and ominous warnings, Eimer poured cash into the stock market at the depths of the crisis, a decision that has left him and his wife Gayle on track to become millionaires.

"I didn't jump ship. It was scary buying back into the market at that time," said Eimer, who lives in Horsham, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia.

Eimer, who in 2005 had been given just two years to live, said he stuck to his belief that you've got to be in the market to make money.

Besides, he said, "If the Dow goes down to 1,000, then all of us have a lot more problems than losses in stocks. You're talking about the collapse of our economy."

Related: How a 77-year-old trader is cashing in on growth stocks

'Prepared for the worst' Eimer's courageous investing during the financial crisis was made possible by his family's frugal, debt-free lifestyle.

Unlike most Americans, he didn't lever up during the mid-2000s on luxury cars, over-the-top houses or second mortgages.

Instead, Eimer and his wife saved half of his salary and invested heavily in their retirement and college savings funds. They paid off a mortgage on their two-bedroom condo in 2003 and bought a new Toyota Corolla for just $15,000. Later they "splurged" on a Honda Element for $18,000.

"Frugality was grounded into me from a young age," said Eimer, whose grandfather lost everything in the Great Depression. "If we had not prepared for the worst, we would be faced with financial disaster."

Eimer said he converted his wife from a "spendthrift" when they first met to a frugal manager of the household budget. "Without her, we wouldn't have been able to do any of it," he said, noting the family gets by on just a single prepaid cell phone.

Related: U.S. recovery hits 5-year mark, but has long way to go

Beating the odds: Disaster struck in 2005 when Eimer was diagnosed with an extremely rare and terminal form of thyroid cancer. That forced him to give up his lucrative side career making up to $200 an hour writing textbooks for McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall and other publishers.

There was one doctor on the whole planet who was researching this form of cancer, Eimer said, and she developed an experimental chemotherapy drug that helped save his life.

While the drugs extended his life considerably, he still deals with chronic pain, fatigue, abdominal pain and loss of his hair, which has since returned. But Eimer has been able to continue teaching middle school science at Phil-Mont Christian Academy in Springfield, Pa.

Almost a decade after receiving his grim diagnosis, Eimer has beaten the odds and is currently in stable condition. He's also beaten most retail investors by actually participating in the bull market that has left many everyday Americans behind.

"I went through the dotcom bubble, but this seemed worse," Eimer said about the 2008 crash after Lehman Brothers collapsed in September of that year. He said friends who were financial advisors told him to "ditch all stocks and buy silver."

Related: Why hasn't Main Street recovered like Wall Street?

Buying at the bottom: But Eimer did the exact opposite of those dark warnings: He scooped up beaten down stocks and bonds at what turned out to be historically-low prices.

Eimer said he felt confident enough to do this because he had no debt and a ton of fresh powder: 25% of his portfolio had been in cash when the market cratered. At that point, he had bigger problems as he braced for cancer to take his life.

Related: I sold my startup to Cisco. Here's why

Rather than risk trying to find individual stock winners, Eimer continued a strategy that he's implemented since the 1990s: Buy a diversified variety of index and mutual funds.

Bad luck while investing in individual stocks led Eimer to conclude: "It was only my broker who was getting wealthy."

One mutual fund that's been particularly kind to him is the Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund (VPMAX), which invests mostly in technology and biotech stocks like Google (GOOGL, Tech30) and Amgen (AMGN). The fund has soared 133% since the start of 2009, besting the S&P 500's 123% gain.

"Today, our portfolio is up about 2-1/2 fold from the recession lows. We have zero debt, we're on target to become millionaires in about three years and I'm still alive," Eimer said. "We count ourselves blessed!"

First Published: June 21, 2014: 7:43 AM ET

08.36 | 0 komentar | Read More

American Apparel's ousted CEO fights back

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

In a letter to the company's board, Glaser, who heads Glaser-Weil's litigation department, claims American Apparel "violated its legal and contractual obligations to Mr. Charney in numerous respects" that have resulted in "substantial professional, reputational and financial injuries to Mr. Charney."

Charney, who founded American Apparel (APP) in 1998, was ousted by the board last week.

According to sources familiar with the situation, Charney was given two options: either step aside quietly and take a creative role that would pay around $1 million a year, or face being fired with cause.

"By presenting Mr. Charney with this absurd and unreasonable demand, the Company acted in a manner that was not merely unconscionable but illegal," Glaser claims in her letter to the board.

Last week, American Apparel board member Allan Mayer told CNNMoney that the board had learned earlier this year of "disturbing" information that suggested "misconduct" by Charney.

Related: 'Disturbing misconduct' at American Apparel

Charney was notorious for controversial behavior, including a series of sexual harassment suits filed by employees in recent years.

Mayer said the board was aware of these reports, but said this time it had "concrete facts," which led to an internal investigation.

A person with knowledge of the internal investigation said it was related to Charney's response to allegations of sexual harassment.

Mayer told CNNMoney last week that the company was prepared for a fight. "[Charney] certainly indicated that he was not going to accept it," he said.

Both Mayer and Charney declined to comment for this story.

Glaser was also unavailable for immediate comment.

Related: American Apparel ousts founder, CEO

American Apparel has been struggling for years. Company shares, which topped $15 as recently as 2007, now trade for less than $1.

Mayer thinks the firing will ultimately be a plus for the struggling retailer.

"There are people who will tell you that Dov's reputation was a real drag on the company. There were people and firms unwilling to do business because Dov ran the company," said Mayer. "Since we announced the decision, we've been contacted by mainstream, top of the line, institutions that have not been interested in supporting us."

Glaser is demanding a meeting with the board no later than Monday, June 23, "to negotiate a process whereby Mr. Charney will be fully reinstated to his positions within the Company and to attempt to negotiate a process whereby Mr. Charney's business reputation can be restored."

First Published: June 21, 2014: 2:46 PM ET

08.36 | 0 komentar | Read More

Will the Dow crack 17,000 this week?

Click for more market data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The Dow Jones industrial average is about 50 points away from crossing 17,000 for the first time ever. The blue-chip average closed at a record high Friday, as did the broader S&P 500 index.

The Dow index of 30 of the biggest and best known U.S. brands has been breaking through these "psychologically important" milestones with remarkable speed. It's considered a good gauge of the health of corporate America.

If the Dow crosses 17,000 this week, it will be less than six months after it first crossed 16,000. It rose above 15,000 for the first time just over a year ago.

In 2007, the Dow went from 13,000 to 14,000 in about four months.

But it wasn't always this way. It took about seven years for the Dow to plow through 12,000.

When the Dow rose to 10,000 for the first time in 1999, floor traders broke out commemorative baseball caps to mark the occasion.

Most analysts say the round numbers are not technically important, but they are a good indication of the current mood among investors.

Stocks have been in a bull market for more than five years, and the bulls don't seem ready to throw in the towel any time soon.

CNNMoney's Fear & Greed index is at a level indicating that investors are feeling extremely greedy. The index stood at 95 out of 100 on Friday.

With greed driving the market, fear seems to have vanished.

Related: Where's all the fear in the stock market

The market's so-called "fear gauge," the VIX (VIX), is at the lowest levels since 2007. Some are starting to say that investors are complacent.

Stocks jumped Wednesday after Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen reiterated that the central bank is unlikely to hike interest rates in the near future.

The Fed's policies, along with a gradually improving economic backdrop, have powered the bull market thus far. Investors seem confident that this fortuitous combination will remain in place for a while longer.

But there are some mixed signals below the surface.

The top performing Dow stock this year is Caterpillar (CAT), which is up 20% since January.

That suggests investors are optimistic about the global economy, since the heavy equipment maker sells products used to construct buildings and infrastructure around the world.

Related: Rich investors worry about stock market

But banks and consumer-oriented companies are among the worst performers on the Dow this year.

Visa (V) is down nearly 6% since January, making it the worst performer in the index. Goldman Sachs (GS) and JPMorgan (JPM) are also down year-to-date.

Bank stocks have had a strong run over the past few years, so it's not surprising to see them underperform. But a healthy banking sector is usually considered a prerequisite for a robust economic recovery.

Wal-Mart (WMT)and Nike (NKE) are also bringing up the rear on the Dow. That suggests investors don't have much confidence in the outlook for consumer spending.

First Published: June 22, 2014: 9:04 AM ET

08.36 | 0 komentar | Read More

From cancer survivor to millionaire

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The science teacher and textbook author was fighting off a rare and terminal form of cancer as he watched the Great Recession swallow up 40% of his investment portfolio. Friends in finance warned him to dump his stocks because they feared the Dow would soon plummet from its already depressed 8,000 level to 1,000.

Despite those daunting challenges and ominous warnings, Eimer poured cash into the stock market at the depths of the crisis, a decision that has left him and his wife Gayle on track to become millionaires.

"I didn't jump ship. It was scary buying back into the market at that time," said Eimer, who lives in Horsham, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia.

Eimer, who in 2005 had been given just two years to live, said he stuck to his belief that you've got to be in the market to make money.

Besides, he said, "If the Dow goes down to 1,000, then all of us have a lot more problems than losses in stocks. You're talking about the collapse of our economy."

Related: How a 77-year-old trader is cashing in on growth stocks

'Prepared for the worst' Eimer's courageous investing during the financial crisis was made possible by his family's frugal, debt-free lifestyle.

Unlike most Americans, he didn't lever up during the mid-2000s on luxury cars, over-the-top houses or second mortgages.

Instead, Eimer and his wife saved half of his salary and invested heavily in their retirement and college savings funds. They paid off a mortgage on their two-bedroom condo in 2003 and bought a new Toyota Corolla for just $15,000. Later they "splurged" on a Honda Element for $18,000.

"Frugality was grounded into me from a young age," said Eimer, whose grandfather lost everything in the Great Depression. "If we had not prepared for the worst, we would be faced with financial disaster."

Eimer said he converted his wife from a "spendthrift" when they first met to a frugal manager of the household budget. "Without her, we wouldn't have been able to do any of it," he said, noting the family gets by on just a single prepaid cell phone.

Related: U.S. recovery hits 5-year mark, but has long way to go

Beating the odds: Disaster struck in 2005 when Eimer was diagnosed with an extremely rare and terminal form of thyroid cancer. That forced him to give up his lucrative side career making up to $200 an hour writing textbooks for McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall and other publishers.

There was one doctor on the whole planet who was researching this form of cancer, Eimer said, and she developed an experimental chemotherapy drug that helped save his life.

While the drugs extended his life considerably, he still deals with chronic pain, fatigue, abdominal pain and loss of his hair, which has since returned. But Eimer has been able to continue teaching middle school science at Phil-Mont Christian Academy in Springfield, Pa.

Almost a decade after receiving his grim diagnosis, Eimer has beaten the odds and is currently in stable condition. He's also beaten most retail investors by actually participating in the bull market that has left many everyday Americans behind.

"I went through the dotcom bubble, but this seemed worse," Eimer said about the 2008 crash after Lehman Brothers collapsed in September of that year. He said friends who were financial advisors told him to "ditch all stocks and buy silver."

Related: Why hasn't Main Street recovered like Wall Street?

Buying at the bottom: But Eimer did the exact opposite of those dark warnings: He scooped up beaten down stocks and bonds at what turned out to be historically-low prices.

Eimer said he felt confident enough to do this because he had no debt and a ton of fresh powder: 25% of his portfolio had been in cash when the market cratered. At that point, he had bigger problems as he braced for cancer to take his life.

Related: I sold my startup to Cisco. Here's why

Rather than risk trying to find individual stock winners, Eimer continued a strategy that he's implemented since the 1990s: Buy a diversified variety of index and mutual funds.

Bad luck while investing in individual stocks led Eimer to conclude: "It was only my broker who was getting wealthy."

One mutual fund that's been particularly kind to him is the Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund (VPMAX), which invests mostly in technology and biotech stocks like Google (GOOGL, Tech30) and Amgen (AMGN). The fund has soared 133% since the start of 2009, besting the S&P 500's 123% gain.

"Today, our portfolio is up about 2-1/2 fold from the recession lows. We have zero debt, we're on target to become millionaires in about three years and I'm still alive," Eimer said. "We count ourselves blessed!"

First Published: June 21, 2014: 7:43 AM ET

08.36 | 0 komentar | Read More

Friday Links

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

A weekly collection of design, data and interactive links.

Photo/Video
Seismik | Herman Kolgen explores vertical layering dislocations
8-Bit 3D Art | Ron Burgundy and Boba Fett rendered in 3D printed pixels
Kodama | 20syl's new music video
Milky Way | Michael Shainblum shares 3 tips for photographing the Milky Way

Design/Data viz
Maschinenangst | Vera Idelson's costume and set design illustrations for the Italian Futurist play The Anguish of the Machines
The Story of EBoy | Watch the video, it's great
Visualizing MBTA Data | An interactive exploration of Boston's subway system
LazerBlade | The affordable laser cutter and engraver
Can you find Benghazi? | Can you accurately locate Benghazi?

Code
ArnoldC | A programming language based on the one liners of Arnold Schwarzenegger
Web Starter Kit | Boilerplate & tooling for multi-device development from Google

See last week's links

Have a nice weekend!
@dubly and @talyellin

First Published: June 20, 2014: 4:21 PM ET

08.36 | 0 komentar | Read More

American Apparel's ousted CEO fights back

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

In a letter to the company's board, Glaser, who heads Glaser-Weil's litigation department, claims American Apparel "violated its legal and contractual obligations to Mr. Charney in numerous respects" that have resulted in "substantial professional, reputational and financial injuries to Mr. Charney."

Charney, who founded American Apparel (APP) in 1998, was ousted by the board last week.

According to sources familiar with the situation, Charney was given two options: either step aside quietly and take a creative role that would pay around $1 million a year, or face being fired with cause.

"By presenting Mr. Charney with this absurd and unreasonable demand, the Company acted in a manner that was not merely unconscionable but illegal," Glaser claims in her letter to the board.

Last week, American Apparel board member Allan Mayer told CNNMoney that the board had learned earlier this year of "disturbing" information that suggested "misconduct" by Charney.

Related: 'Disturbing misconduct' at American Apparel

Charney was notorious for controversial behavior, including a series of sexual harassment suits filed by employees in recent years.

Mayer said the board was aware of these reports, but said this time it had "concrete facts," which led to an internal investigation.

A person with knowledge of the internal investigation said it was related to Charney's response to allegations of sexual harassment.

Mayer told CNNMoney last week that the company was prepared for a fight. "[Charney] certainly indicated that he was not going to accept it," he said.

Both Mayer and Charney declined to comment for this story.

Glaser was also unavailable for immediate comment.

Related: American Apparel ousts founder, CEO

American Apparel has been struggling for years. Company shares, which topped $15 as recently as 2007, now trade for less than $1.

Mayer thinks the firing will ultimately be a plus for the struggling retailer.

"There are people who will tell you that Dov's reputation was a real drag on the company. There were people and firms unwilling to do business because Dov ran the company," said Mayer. "Since we announced the decision, we've been contacted by mainstream, top of the line, institutions that have not been interested in supporting us."

Glaser is demanding a meeting with the board no later than Monday, June 23, "to negotiate a process whereby Mr. Charney will be fully reinstated to his positions within the Company and to attempt to negotiate a process whereby Mr. Charney's business reputation can be restored."

First Published: June 21, 2014: 2:46 PM ET

08.36 | 0 komentar | Read More

Google hosts all-girl coding party

Actress and producer Mindy Kaling was the host at an event geared toward getting more young girls interested in tech.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Made With Code aims to address what, according to Google's own research, are the top two reasons women don't get into computer science -- exposure and encouragement.

Actress and producer Mindy Kaling hosted the Made With Code launch event for the initiative in New York on Thursday night, where supporter Chelsea Clinton was also among the 150 in attendance. Clinton is Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation, whose No Ceilings project works to further the full participation of women and girls in all parts of society.

"It was really powerful for the girls in the room, some of whom have never coded, to see the connection between art, music, dance -- the things they love -- and coding," said Reshma Saujani, founder & CEO of Girls Who Code, a partner of the Made With Code initiative.

Girls Who Code places high school juniors and seniors in coding classes within the walls of major private sector corporations like Google (GOOGL, Tech30), Twitter (TWTR, Tech30), eBay (EBAY, Tech30) and others.

The Made With Code website is a hub for interactive coding projects, video profiles of female coders merging their tech skills with their other interests, and a directory for coding classes, camps and opportunities from partner organizations.

Video profiles on the site include women and girls working in music engineering, studying human robot interactions and at the intersection of fashion and technology.

Related: Black girls take on tech's diversity woes

For the initiative, Google recruited partners and supporters including Girls Inc., Girl Scouts of the USA, MIT Media Lab, National Center for Women & Information Technology, Seventeen magazine, and the influential industry news site TechCrunch.

Google has also pledged $50 million to support nonprofits working to teach girls computer science.

Just a few weeks ago Google released a report revealing a severe gender gap within its own ranks. Only 30% of Googlers are women, with just 17% women on their tech teams. This week, Yahoo (YAHOF) followed suit by releasing numbers on their own staff. Despite having Marissa Mayer as CEO, Yahoo is only 15% female on the tech side of its business.

Related: Google: Overwhelmingly white and male

The numbers illustrate the industry's serious gender gap. In the United States, women make up only 28% of the science and engineering workforce, according to the National Science Foundation.

"We're building a movement here," said Saujani. "We're trying to reach millions of girls and teach them to code. We have a lot of work to do. This is just the beginning."

First Published: June 20, 2014: 4:06 PM ET

08.36 | 0 komentar | Read More