The Fortune 500 comes out just once a year, but the companies on it make headlines every day. Here then are today’s highlights of news and happenings coming from the biggest names in business.
By Shelley DuBois, reporter
APPLE’S APP PLAN DRAWS ATTENTION from antitrust law enforcers. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission are looking into whether Apple’s (APPL) plan to charge 30% of the fee for subscriptions to publications sold through iTunes gives the company an unfair advantage. No formal investigation has been launched yet. [Wall Street Journal]
TIME INC. CEO JACK GRIFFIN LEAVES THE COMPANY after only six months on the job. Jeffrey Bewkes, CEO of Time Inc.’s parent company Time Warner (TWX), issued a memo to all Time Inc. employees, claiming that Griffin’s management style wasn’t a good fit for the company. [New York Times]
BP IS TOO GENEROUS the company claims. BP (BP) emailed a 24-page letter to the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, saying that the $20 billion oil spill recovery fund is more money than the affected region actually needs to financially recover. [CNNMoney]
HOT ON THE TRAIL An HP (HPQ) investor is looking for more information regarding departure of former CEO Mark Hurd. The investor, a man named Ernesto Espinoza, wants access to a report prepared for the HP board by lawyers at Covington & Burling LLP. Espinoza’s lawyers claim that the report, now protected under the attorney-client privilege, contains critical information about Hurd’s departure. [Bloomberg Businessweek]
PAYDAY FOR JAMIE JPMorgan’s (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon is getting some substantial monetary rewards after his company’s good performance this past year. In addition to his $1 million salary for 2010, Dimon also received $17 million worth of restricted stock and stock options. That’s more than pay packages for CEOs of Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS). [New York Times]
APPARENTLY THERE ARE HEATED ‘ORANGE JUICE WARS’ going down right now between Pepsi (PEP) and Coca-Cola (KO). The next tactical maneuver by Pepsi to regain market share that its Tropicana brand lost to Coke’s Simply juice brand is to switch from its cardboard cartons to clear plastic containers. Market research indicates that “consumers like to see the juice,” a Pepsi spokeswoman said. [Wall Street Journal]
