Crain’s Chicago Business editor Michael Arndt reports on some of the biggest business stories of 2016.
Crain’s used a lot of ink this year reporting on the twists and turns at the Chicago Tribune. Michael Ferro was the owner of the Chicago Sun-Times, but then he bought a majority stake in the Tribune, giving up the Sun-Times to become the chairman of Tribune Publishing. He then promptly changed the venerable company’s name to Tronc. For months, Ferro played hardball with USA Today owner Gannett over a buyout bid, but in the end, Gannett pulled the plug on the billion-dollar deal, and Tronc stock plunged. Now Ferro’s investment group has bought more shares of Tronc.
Finally, the iconic Tribune Tower was sold to the CIM Group, which developed Block 37. CIM reportedly paid more than $200 million to turn the landmark into a hotel and residential tower.
Turnaround stories dominated Crain’s 2016 headlines, including the turnaround efforts at two renowned Chicago companies: McDonald’s and United.
McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook continues to think outside the box by doing the unthinkable: tinkering with the Big Mac. Offering all-day breakfast has been a hit and he’s now testing Happy Meals for breakfast. He’s also changing ingredients, restaurant layouts, moving the McDonald’s headquarters and taking on Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks with sustainable coffee and a new café initiative. Will his strategies work?
At United, CEO Oscar Munoz was temporarily out of commission with a heart transplant. He’s back and trying to help calm the turbulence with new efforts to woo travelers. There were shareholder and labor revolts as United’s value and performance dropped since acquiring Continental in 2010. So will the skies be friendlier for United in the future? Only time will tell.
Another major story of 2016 is that the Dow Jones Industrial Average continued flirting with the 20,000 mark. It has increased about 200-percent since 2009 and is up approximately 1,600 points since the November election. Business and market pundits have myriad reasons they’ve attributed the Dow’s growth and new stock market milestones.
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