Mcdonalds Corp

McDonald's Corp., the world's largest restaurant company, said that the effect of weak foreign currencies against a strong U.S. dollar could dampen its 2000 earnings by as much as 7 cents a share, 2 cents more than previously expected. Analysts had forecast McDonald's to earn $1.52 a share in the year, up from $1.39 in 1999, according to First Call/Thomson Financial. McDonald's shares fell $1.81 to close at $27.19 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Gray Friday? It was just a quirk of the calendar that stocks fell hard on the quarter-century anniversary of the 1987 market crash. Friday's 205-point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average was far less dramatic than the infamous 508-point collapse on Black Monday, which at the time was a 23% plunge. Still, investors were rattled by disappointing earnings reports from bellwethers such as General Electric Co., Microsoft Corp. and McDonald's Corp. The Dow suffered its worst drubbing in four months, skidding 205.43 points, or 1.5%, to 13,343.51.

McDonald's to Expand in Eastern Europe: Helmut Hecher, vice president for construction of McDonald's Europe, said in Vienna that the company will open its first restaurants in Poland and Czechoslovakia this year. Business in Hungary and Yugoslavia is booming, Hecher said--and several restaurants will be added in both countries this year and next.

Charlie Bell, who served seven months last year as chief executive of McDonald's Corp., died Sunday. He was 44. Bell was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in May 2004 and resigned from the company in November, McDonald's said in a statement. He died in Sydney, Australia, his hometown. Bell was named chief executive in April 2004 following the death of Jim Cantalupo. In that post, he focused on boosting European sales and took the company into the $17.3-billion market for deli sandwiches.

Quality Inns International Inc., which last month introduced a chain of economy hotels called McSleep Inn, has fired the first legal shot at McDonald's in a battle over the McSleep name. Quality, a lodging company based in Silver Spring, Md., filed suit against McDonald's in U.S. District Court in Maryland, asking the court to declare that McSleep does not infringe on the fast-food chain's trademarks.

David Wallerstein, 87, an innovative motion picture exhibitor and more recently a director of McDonald's Corp. Wallerstein retired in 1965 as president of Balaban & Katz Corp., at that time the largest movie theater chain in the Midwest. The chain evolved into ABC/Plitt Theatres. Wallerstein joined the McDonald's board in 1968 at the request of founder Ray Kroc.

Michael R. Quinlan, president and chief executive of McDonald's Corp., will succeed Fred L. Turner as chairman of the world's largest restaurant chain on March 31. Quinlan, 45, said in an interview that he wants to put the Golden Arches in China and that McDonald's customers will likely see more dinner-type meals added to the menu in coming years. "The challenge to McDonald's is to be more things to more people, the same philosophy we've been following for many years now," Quinlan said.

Charlie Bell, who served seven months last year as chief executive of McDonald's Corp., died Sunday. He was 44. Bell was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in May 2004 and resigned from the company in November, McDonald's said in a statement. He died in Sydney, Australia, his hometown. Bell was named chief executive in April 2004 following the death of Jim Cantalupo. In that post, he focused on boosting European sales and took the company into the $17.3-billion market for deli sandwiches.

Jim Cantalupo, the chairman and chief executive of McDonald's Corp. who orchestrated a turnaround of the fast-food giant after overseeing the proliferation of its restaurants worldwide in the 1980s and '90s, died of a heart attack Monday. He was 60. Cantalupo was stricken in Orlando, where McDonald's was holding its international franchisees convention. The company said he suffered the heart attack at his hotel just after 4 a.m. and died at a hospital a short time later.

A jury in Bakersfield ordered the McDonald's Corp. to pay the major share of $700,000 in punitive damages awarded Tuesday to the family of a 9-year-old girl whose leg was broken while she was using playground equipment at one of the chain's restaurants. On Monday, the same Kern County Superior Court jury had held McDonald's and JBI Inc. of Long Beach, manufacturers of the equipment, liable for $43,900 in general damages for the injury Marlena Escalera suffered Dec.

Jim Cantalupo, the chairman and chief executive of McDonald's Corp. who orchestrated a turnaround of the fast-food giant after overseeing the proliferation of its restaurants worldwide in the 1980s and '90s, died of a heart attack Monday. He was 60. Cantalupo was stricken in Orlando, where McDonald's was holding its international franchisees convention. The company said he suffered the heart attack at his hotel just after 4 a.m. and died at a hospital a short time later.

McDonald's Corp., the world's largest restaurant company, said that the effect of weak foreign currencies against a strong U.S. dollar could dampen its 2000 earnings by as much as 7 cents a share, 2 cents more than previously expected. Analysts had forecast McDonald's to earn $1.52 a share in the year, up from $1.39 in 1999, according to First Call/Thomson Financial. McDonald's shares fell $1.81 to close at $27.19 on the New York Stock Exchange.

David Wallerstein, 87, an innovative motion picture exhibitor and more recently a director of McDonald's Corp. Wallerstein retired in 1965 as president of Balaban & Katz Corp., at that time the largest movie theater chain in the Midwest. The chain evolved into ABC/Plitt Theatres. Wallerstein joined the McDonald's board in 1968 at the request of founder Ray Kroc.

A jury in Bakersfield ordered the McDonald's Corp. to pay the major share of $700,000 in punitive damages awarded Tuesday to the family of a 9-year-old girl whose leg was broken while she was using playground equipment at one of the chain's restaurants. On Monday, the same Kern County Superior Court jury had held McDonald's and JBI Inc. of Long Beach, manufacturers of the equipment, liable for $43,900 in general damages for the injury Marlena Escalera suffered Dec.

McDonald's to Expand in Eastern Europe: Helmut Hecher, vice president for construction of McDonald's Europe, said in Vienna that the company will open its first restaurants in Poland and Czechoslovakia this year. Business in Hungary and Yugoslavia is booming, Hecher said--and several restaurants will be added in both countries this year and next.

Michael R. Quinlan, president and chief executive of McDonald's Corp., will succeed Fred L. Turner as chairman of the world's largest restaurant chain on March 31. Quinlan, 45, said in an interview that he wants to put the Golden Arches in China and that McDonald's customers will likely see more dinner-type meals added to the menu in coming years. "The challenge to McDonald's is to be more things to more people, the same philosophy we've been following for many years now," Quinlan said.

Gray Friday? It was just a quirk of the calendar that stocks fell hard on the quarter-century anniversary of the 1987 market crash. Friday's 205-point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average was far less dramatic than the infamous 508-point collapse on Black Monday, which at the time was a 23% plunge. Still, investors were rattled by disappointing earnings reports from bellwethers such as General Electric Co., Microsoft Corp. and McDonald's Corp. The Dow suffered its worst drubbing in four months, skidding 205.43 points, or 1.5%, to 13,343.51.

In-N-Out, McDonald's Corp., Jack in the Box, Burger King and other chains quickly cut ties with Central Valley Meat Co. this week after undercover footage from an animal welfare group showed cows at the California slaughterhouse seemingly tortured and otherwise mistreated. McDonald's said the percentage of its meat that came from the Central Valley slaughterhouse was in “the low single digits.” "Upon learning about USDA's decision to suspend CVM, we took immediate action and suspended supply from this facility, pending further investigation,” the hamburger giant said in a statement.

Quality Inns International Inc., which last month introduced a chain of economy hotels called McSleep Inn, has fired the first legal shot at McDonald's in a battle over the McSleep name. Quality, a lodging company based in Silver Spring, Md., filed suit against McDonald's in U.S. District Court in Maryland, asking the court to declare that McSleep does not infringe on the fast-food chain's trademarks.