What’s in the news? – Kinder Morgan (NASDAQ:KMI), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

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By Mark Michaels on August 11, 2014 Consumer Staples

Kinder Morgan combines units

Kinder Morgan (NASDAQ:KMI), the pipeline giant, has announced on Sunday that it will combine all of its businesses into a single unit. The shareholders were greatly concerned about the complicated structure of the company and its progress. In response to this concern, Kinder Morgan (NASDAQ:KMI) decided to take on this transaction which is worth $70 billion. Some of the company units have acquired the Master Limited Partnership status over time. This status will be removed as a part of the new transaction to combine the various units into a single company. All businesses will be combined into a C corporation which will have a market cap of about $92 billion. Some of the companies that will be combined include Kinder Morgan Management (NASDAQ:KMP), El Paso Pipeline Partners (NASDAQ:EPB) and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NASDAQ:KMP).

Amazon Stops Preorders From Disney

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) had a contract dispute with Disney Inc. (NASDAQ:DIS) after which they stopped some preorders of Disney Inc. (NASDAQ:DIS) movies. As of Sunday, the physical copies of the movies “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “Maleficent” were not available. The digital copies of the movies were available, however. When asked about the dispute between them, both Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Disney Inc. (NASDAQ:DIS) did not comment.

China Regulators Probe Walmart

China Regulators suspect violations of food-safety regulations in Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) in Shenzen. The investigation was sponsored by the government. An employee at the company had made a video because of which the probe was sent. The company launched an investigation itself too. They have revealed that no such problems were discovered as have been reported in the video. An investigation result shows that no food-safety violations are being practiced at the retail store.

Apple’s proposal rejected by Judge

Some workers brought a lawsuit saying that some companies, including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), are conspiring against each other in that they do not hire workers from each other. After much ado, the companies proposed a settlement that was worth $324.5 million in response to the workers’ plea. The judge, Lucy Koh, however, refused to sign the settlement. She said that the amount proposed was too low. Also, the evidence gathered against the companies was too large to be ignored and be settled by this petty amount. The suspect companies were Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) and Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE). According to the judge, substantial evidence was gained that suggested that Steve Jobs was a central figure in this conspiracy.

ConAgra CEO looks to step down

According to several media reports, the CEO of ConAgra Foods (NASDAQ:CAG) will be stepping down after a few months. Gary Rodkin, the CEO in question, will step down and open up an opportunity for the company. The new leadership may just help the company turn around. The food producer has suffered quite a few blows in the past and desperately needs someone to pull it back in the game.