No more bug extract in your Frappuccino Starbucks Corp., the world's largest coffee-shop chain, plans to stop using an extract made of dried insects to color some Frappuccinos and pastries after an online campaign asked for the ingredient to be removed. The retailer said its U.S. stores will phase out by June use of a red dye derived from cochineal insects, a tropical bug found in Mexico and South America. The colorant will be replaced with lycopene, a tomato extract, the Seattle-based company said.
Ford's building spree continues in China Ford Motor Co. has chosen China for its largest factory expansion program in a half century, announcing that it would build a $760 million assembly plant in Hangzhou, two weeks after announcing another $600 million plan to build a new assembly plant in Chongqing and less than six weeks after completing a third assembly plant in Chongqing. Auto sales in China rose just 2.5 percent last year, after a decade of double-digit annual growth. Sales were down 1.3 percent in the first quarter of this year from a year earlier, the first quarter to show a decline in seven years, according to official figures.
Web analytics firm's shares double after IPO Splunk Inc., a maker of software that helps companies analyze Web data, more than doubled on its first day of trading after pricing its shares 70 percent above the originally proposed range in an initial public offering. The stock, listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol SPLK, climbed to $35.48 at the close. The San Francisco-based company raised $229.5 million in its IPO, selling 13.5 million shares at $17 apiece. Splunk's market value of $1.57 billion at the time of the sale jumped to $3.28 billion.
Bidding war for Great Wolf still escalating Great Wolf Resorts Inc. said KSL Capital Partners has offered $7.25 a share to acquire the water-park operator, topping Apollo Global Management's $7 offer made Wednesday. Great Wolf said Thursday that KSL's offer is superior and Apollo will have until April 24 to make a better bid. The board of Madison, Wis.-based Great Wolf still recommends Apollo's offer and will consider both bids after Apollo's next decision, the company said.
FROM NEWS SERVICES
