Chamber partners with farm bureau

Chamber partners with farm bureau

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber announced a new development partnership with the Ohio Farm Bureau that will focus on the agricultural sector, which involves 7,000 Northeast Ohio farms that include many in Trumbull and Mahoning counties.

The two organizations have spent more than a year defining the partnership and strategy to better the industry including farming, food manufacturing, processing and distribution. The partnerships will offer business-development assistance and help companies make connections within the industry overall.

FedEx to take over Dutch rival TNT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands

FedEx has agreed to take over Dutch delivery company TNT Express for $4.8 billion, bolstering its global business with an acquisition that rival UPS had tried but failed to complete two years ago.

FedEx said Tuesday it reached a conditional agreement with TNT Express’ management on an all-cash offer of $8.75 per TNT share. That represents a premium of 33 percent over the shares’ April 2 closing price, the companies said.

FedEx Corp. chairman and CEO Fred Smith said on a call with analysts that his company had built an air-express business in Europe but wanted a ground network. Buying TNT allows FedEx to take advantage of growing Internet commerce and position itself for better long-term growth in profit, he said.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2016, pending shareholder approval.

Borrowing climbs to record high in Feb.

WASHINGTON

Consumers increased their borrowing to a record high in February, driven by a large jump in auto and student loans.

The Federal Reserve reported Tuesday that consumer borrowing expanded $15.5 billion in February after a $10.8 billion gain in January. The February increase pushed borrowing to a fresh record of $3.34 trillion.

Borrowing in the category that covers auto loans and student loans increased by $19.2 billion, the biggest monthly gain since July 2011. That offset a $3.7 billion decline in the credit-card category.

Economists expect credit- card use to rebound in coming months.

YouTube Kids app called deceiving

WASHINGTON

The new YouTube Kids mobile app targets young children with unfair and deceptive advertising and should be investigated, a group of consumer advocates told the Federal Trade Commission in a letter Tuesday.

Google introduced the app in February as a “safer” place for kids to explore videos because it was restricted to “family-focused content.”

But the consumer activists say the app is so stuffed with advertisements and product placements that it’s hard to tell the difference between entertainment and commercials. One example is a seven-minute video of Disney’s “Frozen” characters who appear as dolls inside a toy McDonald’s, eating ice cream and drinking Sprite.

Vindicator staff/wire reports