Staybridge Suites hotel sold for $14.5 million
Chattanooga-based 3H Group Inc. has sold the Staybridge Suites next to the Chattanooga Convention Center for $14.5 million, according to a Hamilton County property sales document.
The buyer of the property at 1300 Carter St. is MCR Hotels of New York City, said Hiren Desai, 3H Group's chief executive, in an interview.
MCR is the fourth largest hotel owner-operator in the United States, according to the company's website. The company said it offers more than 21,000 guest rooms in 145 hotels in 37 states and 102 cities.
Desai said the hotel is expected to remain a Staybridge Suites.
Wholesale price gains ease but inflation is still at 7.4%
Wholesale prices in the United States rose 7.4% in November from a year earlier, a fifth straight slowdown and a hopeful sign that inflation pressures across the economy are continuing to cool.
The latest year-over-year figure was down from 8% in October and from a recent peak of 11.7% in March. On a monthly basis, the government said Friday that its producer price index, which measures costs before they reach consumers, rose 0.3% from October to November for the third straight month.
Rising prices are still straining Americans' finances, particularly for food, rent and services such as haircuts, medical care and restaurant meals. Yet several emerging trends have combined to slow inflation from the four-decade peak it reached during the summer. Gas prices have tumbled after topping out at $5 a gallon in June. Nationally, they averaged $3.33 a gallon Thursday, according to AAA, just below their average a year ago.
And the supply chain snarls that caused chronic transportation delays and shortages of many goods, from patio furniture to curtains, are unraveling. U.S. ports have cleared the backlog of ships that earlier this year took weeks to unload. And the cost of shipping a cargo container from Asia has fallen sharply back to pre-pandemic levels.
As a result, the prices of long-lasting goods, from used cars and furniture to appliances and certain electronics, are easing.
Random House CEO quits after failed merger
Markus Dohle stepped down from his role as chief executive of Penguin Random House, the publisher's parent company, Bertelsmann, announced on Friday, just weeks after an enormously expensive acquisition deal fell apart.
As the head of the largest publisher in the country, Dohle oversaw the attempted purchase of Simon & Schuster for $2.175 billion, a deal that the Justice Department sued to stop on antitrust grounds. The government won the case at the end of October, a ruling that cost Penguin Random House and Bertelsmann more than $200 million.
Bertelsmann, a German media conglomerate, said in a statement that Dohle was stepping down "at his own request and on the best of mutual terms." He was also resigning from his seat on the Bertelsmann Executive Board, the company said.
"Following the antitrust decision in the U.S. against the merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, I have decided, after nearly 15 years on the executive board of Bertelsmann and at the helm of our global publishing business, to hand over the next chapter of Penguin Random House to new leadership," Dohle said in a statement. "Penguin Random House has a great future ahead, and I very much look forward to continuing to serve Bertelsmann in an advisory capacity."
Bertelsmann said that Nihar Malaviya, the chief operating officer of the publisher's U.S. division, who has worked closely with Dohle for the past 15 years, will become interim chief executive in January.
Europe builds pipeline for hydrogen transport
Spain, France and Portugal agreed Friday to build by 2030 a major undersea pipeline to transport hydrogen from the Iberian Peninsula to France and eventually the rest of Europe.
The pipeline is aimed at making the European Union's energy supply more independent, a goal expedited by the Russian invasion of Ukraine last February that precipitated an energy crisis.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the pipeline, dubbed H2Med, will be able to convey some 2 million metric tons of hydrogen to France annually -- 10% of the EU´s estimated hydrogen needs. The project is expected to cost 2.5 billion euros ($2.6 billion).
The announcement came after a meeting between Sánchez, his French and Portuguese counterparts and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the eastern Spanish city of Alicante.
"Today, the Iberian Peninsula is becoming a major European energy gateway to the world," Von der Leyen said at a joint press briefing.
Britain eases bank rules to maintain finance hub
Britain announced plans Friday to ease banking rules brought in after the 2008 global financial crisis in a bid to attract investment and secure London's status as Europe's leading finance center.
Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt said the changes, which follow Britain's departure from the European Union in 2020, will make the U.K. "one of the most open, dynamic and competitive financial services hubs in the world."
The package of more than 30 changes includes lifting a cap on bankers' bonuses and easing capital requirements for smaller lenders. The government also said it will review regulations that hold bankers accountable for their decisions and will relax "ringfencing" rules intended to separate risky investment banking from retail operations.
Hunt said the government was using "Brexit freedoms" to make Britain more competitive. But many economists point out that the U.K.'s departure from the EU has erected barriers to trade and led some firms to shift offices and jobs to other European cities.
China leader meets with Saudi Arabia king
Chinese leader Xi Jinping met on Thursday with Saudi Arabia's king and crown prince while on a visit to the kingdom, solidifying ties with a region crucial to his country's energy supplies as sanctions intensify on Russia over its war on Ukraine.
Xi arrived at Al Yamama Palace in Riyadh and was greeted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, King Salman's assertive son who stands ready to rule the oil-rich kingdom in the decades to come. Xi shook hands with the prince as an honor guard on horseback carried Saudi and Chinese flags.
It wasn't immediately clear what Xi focused on in his discussions, though he wrote in a newspaper column published by Al Riyadh newspaper that "exchanges between China and Arab states date back more than 2,000 years." The column also quoted a saying by Islam's Prophet Muhammad: "Seek knowledge even if you have to go as far as China."
"The Arab people value independence, oppose external interference, stand up to power politics and high-handedness, and always seek to make progress," Xi's column read.
He also noted that the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, which include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, serve as "an energy tank for world economy." China, the world's largest crude oil importer, relies heavily on Saudi oil, paying tens of billions of dollars annually to the kingdom.