Mcdonald S Corp

When it comes to marketing movies to kids, fast food wasn't to Disney's taste. But 20th Century Fox sees nothing wrong with a Big Mac. The News Corp. studio has struck a partnership with McDonald's for five of its major movie releases through 2010, beginning with the summer sequels "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" and "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs."

Shares of McDonald's Corp., the world's largest restaurant company, fell the most in more than four years after a franchisee survey indicated same-store sales in the U.S. might have increased at their slowest pace since a turnaround in 2003. Thirty-one franchisees operating 195 restaurants said December sales by outlets open at least 13 months advanced 1.8%, according to a report from consultant Richard Adams. Competition from Burger King Holdings Inc. and Wendy's International Inc. hurt sales, Adams said.

McDonald's Corp., the world's largest restaurant company, said quarterly profit growth slowed and December's U.S. same-store sales were unchanged, the worst monthly result in almost five years. McDonald's, based in Oak Brook, Ill., said fourth-quarter net income was $1.27 billion, or $1.06 a share, compared with $1.24 billion, or $1, a year earlier. Quarterly sales rose 6% to $5.75 billion. Same-store sales, a key performance measure, rose 3.3% in the quarter in the U.S. but were flat for the last month, which concerned traders.

McDonald's -- never known for a delicate marketing touch -- is about to drop the mother of all campaigns on you, an everywhere-you-look, invade-your-dreams ad campaign in support of its McCafe specialty coffee drinks that will be not so much viral as bubonic. An estimated $100-million mega-buy across TV, Web, radio, print, outdoor and social media, the McCafe push beginning today will be, according to the company, its biggest "menu initiative" since it began serving breakfast in the 1970s.

Seeking to buy eggs produced in a more humane way, McDonald's Corp. said Thursday that it would undertake a large-scale study involving tens of thousands of hens. But the Humane Society of the United States said the study probably would delay any significant move by McDonald's into the U.S. cage-free egg market -- a step some of its rivals have taken. Most eggs produced in the U.S.

Every day at the Distant Lands Coffee roasting plant here, a river of green coffee beans is transformed into espresso, fuel for McDonald's Corp.'s boldest gambit in decades. Distant Lands' Russell Kramer was skeptical at first that it would ever happen. Could the burger giant really be serious about selling cappuccinos? A bike ride with a McDonald's executive through the coffee-tree-studded mountains of the Indonesian island of Sumatra helped convince him that it was.

Tomatoes disappeared from cheeseburgers. Fresh salsa was suddenly in short supply. Supermarket produce sections were in disarray. Homemakers checked the fridge, and waiters were pressed to explain why certain menu items were simply unavailable. Amid concerns over a widening salmonella outbreak, the nation's restaurants, supermarkets and consumers faced a bleak tomato landscape Monday.

McDonald's Corp., the world's largest restaurant company, told some U.S. franchisees to seek other ways to finance store improvements after Bank of America Corp. declined to increase lending. Store owners have exhausted the financing available to install latte and espresso makers and make other upgrades, McDonald's said in a memo obtained by Bloomberg News. BofA won't provide more money, the memo said, because it's in the midst of acquiring Merrill Lynch & Co. and coping with the debt markets.

McDonald's Corp., the world's largest restaurant company, posted October sales that beat some analysts' estimates after U.S. consumers, pinched by rising food bills and unemployment, bought double cheeseburgers and other $1 items. Global sales at restaurants open at least 13 months climbed 8.2%, paced by Europe's gain of 9.8% compared with a year earlier. U.S. same-store sales increased 5.3%, the Oak Brook, Ill., company said. The Oct.

McDonald's Corp. said Tuesday that it would increase the price of its $1 double cheeseburger to $1.19 in December to cover rising costs, ending the sandwich's run as the top-selling item on the 6-year-old dollar menu. The world's biggest restaurant company will also replace the double cheeseburger with the McDouble. The new sandwich consists of two beef patties and a single slice of cheese, or one slice less than the double, the company said.