Expect more road travelers at Thanksgiving
Published 5:57 pm Thursday, November 17, 2011
This Thanksgiving, 42.5 million people in the United States are expected to hit the road to visit family and friends — the highest number of holiday travelers since the start of the recession. Travel tracker AAA says that 4 percent more Americans than last year will journey at least 50 miles from home, with about 90 percent of them driving. Another 8 percent plan to fly, but AAA notes that higher airfares and less available seats have forced many would-be fliers to drive instead. The remaining travelers plan to take buses, trains or other forms of transport. This is the third consecutive Thanksgiving that Americans have taken to the road in higher numbers than in the past year.
Angie’s List stock rises on first day
Consumer-reviews site Angie’s List Inc. saw it stock grow by 25 percent on its first day of trading Thursday, showing ongoing investor appetite for Internet companies. The company’s public debut came the same day that another reviews site — San Francisco-based Yelp Inc. — filed for an initial public offering of stock. Founded by Angie Hicks in 1995, Angie’s List runs reviews of dentists, doctors, veterinarians, gardeners, plumbers and other businesses offering local services. About 1 million people pay a monthly fee to read the reviews.
Yelp seeks $100 million in stock sale
Popular online reviews site Yelp is going public, the latest in a slew of Internet businesses to do so. Yelp Inc. said in a regulatory filing Thursday that it plans to raise $100 million in an initial public offering. The amount of money Yelp is seeking in its IPO will likely change as its bankers determine how many shares should be sold and at what price. That process typically takes three to four months. San Francisco-based Yelp, a website best known for reviews of restaurants, bars and other local merchants, generated $58.4 million in net revenue in the first nine months of this year. It booked a net loss of $7.6 million in the same period. It makes its money through advertising.
Mortgage rates remain near record lows
The average rate on the 30-year mortgage hovered near the record low for a third straight week. Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan ticked up to 4 percent from 3.99 percent. Six weeks ago, it dropped to a record low of 3.94 percent.
Regal cinemas offer cellphone ticket
Online ticket seller Fandango said Thursday that customers heading to see movies on more than 1,000 screens owned by Regal Entertainment Corp. no longer have to print out tickets — as long as they have a cellphone with a screen. Fandango will now send movie-goers a bar code that ticket-takers at participating theaters can read using a scanner. The paperless system is launching for Friday’s debut of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1.”
From Herald news services
