Business News Online

The South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers’ Union (Saccawu) has filed an appeal against the Competition Tribunal’s decision to allow Walmart to acquire a controlling stake in Massmart.

“This is not an unexpected development and the companies remain firm in their belief that the transaction rests on solid legal ground,” Massmart and Walmart said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

The union filed the appeal with the Competition Appeals Court on Monday.

Saccawu spokesperson Mike Abrahams was not immediately available to comment.

The Competition Tribunal was due to give reasons on Wednesday for its decision to allow US giant retailer Walmart to acquire 51% of local retailer Massmart in a R16.5-billion deal.

Massmart and Walmart said the notice of appeal would have no impact on the implementation of the transaction.

“Having finalised the transaction on June 20 2011, Massmart and Walmart will continue to focus on serving customers and communities, working closely with local suppliers, and creating jobs in South Africa,” they said.

In May, the Competition Tribunal approved, with conditions, the deal. Read more…

Indianapolis

Several new websites are offering people the opportunity to save money without having to spend it first.

Ever have trouble with a roommate who forgets how to split the bills? If so, use paydivvy to “divvy up” group expenses. Those expanses can include rent, trip costs or just paying bills. The site names everybody’s share, sends reminders, processes payments and lets you know when everybody pays up.

To get a jump start on saving, how about MoneyIsland for kids? It’s a free online video game site designed to teach children money basics like spending, saving and wants versus needs.  It even introduces children to taxes, interest and credit.

Going to a credit counselor when you’re in debt can help, but some would prefer not to share their financial trouble with others. Bills.com  allows you tell the Debt Coach how much you earn, and how much you owe and your priorities in paying off the debt.  The CEO of the company said it does the math for you and recommends a repayment strategy.

If you have a gift card you may not use, PlasticJungle could be for you. Other

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WASHINGTON — During my online discussions, questions about the best way to handle credit card debt and the repercussions from it still dominate. Here is the advice I gave some readers still digging their way out of debt.

Q: “I hate debt, but I’ve found myself with $10,000 on a credit card due to some unexpected expenses, child care, etc.,” one reader wrote. “We make good salaries and our child care expenses will be going down soon, but our expenses are still high, leaving us with $500 per month to put toward the credit cards. I don’t want to take two years to pay them off. I want the debt gone now! I know about the 10 percent penalty for early withdrawal on 401s, but I want a fresh start financially. We have about $80,000 in several different 401s, plus we each have a pension and will have a fairly decent inheritance by the time we retire. All of that makes me think that since we’re in our mid-30s, we’re in decent shape for retirement and it might actually be OK to take out the money to pay off our debt now. What do you think?”

A: I think you should leave that retirement money alone. H

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WASHINGTON The Supreme Court on Monday struck down a California law that limited the sale of violent video games to minors, ruling the restriction violated the free-speech principles in the 1st Amendment.

“Like books, plays and movies, video games communicate ideas,” said Justice Antonin Scalia. “The most basic principle of 1st Amendment law is that government has no power to restrict expression because of its content.”

The ruling came on a 7-2 vote.

Scalia spoke for five members of the court who ruled that under no circumstances could the government be allowed to protect children by limiting violence in the media.

“There is no tradition in this country of specially restricting children’s access to depictions of violence,” Scalia said in the courtroom. “Certainly, the books we give children to read — or read to them when they are younger — have no shortage of gore. Grimm’s Fairy Tales, for example, are grim indeed.” Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan joined his opinion.

Justice Samuel A. Read more…

WASHINGTON, D.C.— David Hirschmann, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, and Lisa Rickard, president of the Institute for Legal Reform, issued the following statement on the SEC’s adoption of whistleblower rules:

“In approving this new whistleblower rule, the SEC has chosen to put trial lawyer profits ahead of effective compliance and corporate governance. This rule will make it harder and slower to detect and stop corporate fraud – by undermining the strong compliance systems set up under Sarbanes Oxley to ensure companies take whistleblowers seriously. Armed with trial lawyers and new large financial incentives to bypass these programs, whistleblowers will go straight to the SEC with allegations of wrongdoing and keep companies in the dark. This leaves expensive, robust compliance programs collecting dust, while violations continue to fester, eroding shareholder value.

“We agree that the SEC should have access to the information it needs to detect and deter fraud. However, no

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Or at least that seems to be the opinion of about half of Canadian small business owners, who, in a recent survey, the American Express Small Business Monitor, say that they can’t concentrate on growing their business because they are spending too much time running it, but remain reluctant to hire outside help to share the workload.

Specifically, small business owners say that more than a quarter (26%) of every day is focused on activities they don’t consider core to their business, activities such as secretarial work (49%), technical support (48%), office/property repairs and cleaning (40%), and doing their own website construction (30%).

Why are Canadian small businesses so reluctant to outsource? The two main reasons are reluctance to give up control over any aspect of their businesses (56%) and that outsourcing is too expensive (52%).

Now you know and I know that these are silly reasons. As a writer/content developer, for instance, do I really need to maintain control over the cleaning of my office?

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