shareholders

Corporate America could learn a lot from the business model of an ousted supermarket chain CEO.

Pfizer said on Monday it had abandoned its current attempt to buy AstraZeneca for nearly $118 billion — a deal watched warily by Maryland officials — as a deadline approached without a last-minute change of heart by the British drugmaker.

Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank is not alone in believing the relatively young Baltimore-based company has a shot at becoming the world's biggest sports brand

Hampstead-based Jos. A. Bank Clothiers will be acquired by rival Men's Wearhouse for $65 a share in cash, a $1.8 billion deal that ends a months-long hostile takeover fight.

On Thursday, Jos. A. Bank rejected Men's Wearhouse's latest bid, a $63.50-per-share offer to buy the Hampstead-based clothier, but in the first sign of thawing, its board has agreed to meet with Wearhouse to discuss a possible acquisition.

Men's Wearhouse sweetened its hostile bid for Hampstead-based Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. Monday, raising its price more than 10 percent in a deal that hinges on the smaller men's apparel chain dropping its plans to buy Eddie Bauer.

Eminence Capital LLC, a shareholder that's suing Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. for rejecting a takeover bid from rival Men's Wearhouse, accused the Hampstead-based men's retailer Tuesday of resorting to "desperate tactics" to protect management jobs by planning to buy outdoor clothing retailer Eddie Bauer.

Hampstead-based suit seller Jos. A. Bank Friday acquired casual clothing chain Eddie Bauer for about $825 million in cash and stock.

1st Mariner Bank will be sold to a group of investors who will recapitalize it with about $100 million to meet regulatory standards, its parent company said Monday.

Continuing to push Jos. A. Bank Clothiers to talk merger with Men's Wearhouse, a large shareholder identified the two men it has nominated to the Hampstead-based retailer's board.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers' board said Friday that it recommends shareholders reject a $1.61 billion acquisition offer from Men's Wearhouse, the latest in a tug of war kicked off when the Hampstead-based Bank tried to buy its larger rival in October.

A large shareholder that is pushing Hampstead-based Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. to negotiate with suitor Men's Wearhouse plans to nominate two company directors at Bank's annual shareholder meeting.

A large shareholder of Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. went to court Monday to force the Hampstead-based men's retailer to negotiate with rival Men's Wearhouse and stop Bank from acquiring another retailer to "sabotage" the Houston-chain's $1.61 billion hostile takeover attempt of Bank

Men's Wearhouse launched a $1.6 billion hostile takeover bid for Jos. A. Bank Clothiers on Monday.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. has taken steps to protect itself from a hostile takeover after having rejected an acquisition bid by rival Men's Wearhouse

Just as its offer was rejected, Jos A. Bank Clothiers Inc. rejected the $1.2 billion turn-table acquisition bid by The Men's Wearhouse Inc. on Monday, but most observers still believe a merger is inevitable.

In a surprise move, Men's Wearhouse on Tuesday turned the tables on Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. and proposed buying its rival for $1.2 billion.

Investors are hoping to breathe new life into Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc.'s failed $2.3 billion bid for Men's Wearhouse Inc., pressuring other investors to join a campaign to re-start merger talks.

The largest shareholder of The Men's Wearhouse Inc. is once again calling for the retailer to resume merger talks with Hampstead-based Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. and hired a strategic adviser to help the effort.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. withdrew its $2.3 billion offer for Men's Wearhouse on Friday, but left the door open for future merger talks. Meanwhile, Men's Wearhouse's largest single shareholder called a special shareholders meeting to consider removing directors from the retailer's board.

The CEO of Men's Wearhouse told the retailer's financial advisors to review a merger with Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. and other potential strategies and present options to the company's board, according to a letter from Men's Wearhouse's largest shareholder.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. is not giving up courting Men's Wearhouse, despite encountering more barriers.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. might have a hard-fought battle ahead in its $2.3 billion quest to acquire rival suit seller Men's Wearhouse, experts say

The Men's Wearhouse rejected a bid by Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. to buy the rival men's apparel chain for $2.3 billion, saying the $48 per share offer significantly undervalues the company.

Men's retailer Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. said profit fell 38 percent in the second quarter after the chain's promotions failed to lure shoppers.

Investors waging a campaign against Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc.'s management are part of a growing wave of shareholder activists, whose actions often end up changing a company's structure and strategy, experts said.

Shares of Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. jumped more than 12 percent Tuesday after investment manager BeaconLight Capital LLC asked the Hampstead-based men's apparel chain to change direction by reorganizing its board and returning cash to shareholders through buybacks.

Legg Mason Inc. announced the appointment of a new chairman at its annual meeting on Tuesday.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers shareholders voted disapproval of executive compensation at the annual meeting Friday, the same day the company declared plans to pursue acquisitions.

Under Armour plans to hire hundreds of workers at its Locust Point headquarters this year, expand facilities on its campus and bring its brand of sports apparel and footwear to new markets in the U.S. and around the world.

About 900 McCormick & Co. investors packed into a Hunt Valley ballroom Wednesday to hear about the company's performance, applaud its stock price gains and see how it is marketing its spices, recipe mixes and other goods worldwide.

Joseph A. Sullivan, who has served as interim leader of Legg Mason Inc. for more than four months, has been named CEO and president of the Baltimore-based money manager, the company announced this morning.

The new CEO of Legg Mason must answer questions about Legg Mason's identity, stem the flow of investors withdrawing money and assuage its affiliates to move the Baltimore money manager into the future.

In summer 2007, a complicated deal to buy Tribune Co. and take it private reflected all the dangers of an easy-money era when caution was pushed aside.

Maryland has dozens of small community banks, now under growing pressure to get bigger

The CEO pay disclosed this year by the 20 largest publicly traded companies in the Baltimore region offers plenty of fodder — as it does every year — to steam the ranks of workers with paychecks that barely budge.

Baltimore-based Legg Mason is losing a CEO, but what's next?

The Under Armour brand is poised for continued growth thanks to new product offerings and the company's continuing push into international markets, executives told stockholders Tuesday.

T. Rowe Price will likely occupy two new buildings at its Owings Mills campus next year, more than three years after the Baltimore money manager put its expansion plans on hold amid the recession.

Spice maker McCormick & Co. is planning to make more acquisitions, especially in emerging markets in Eastern Europe and Asia, where sales are expected to make up 13 percent of the firm's overall revenue this year.

Even after Stanley Black & Decker shareholders rejected the tool and security company's executive pay plan last spring, the company paid Nolan D. Archibald, its chairman and the former CEO of Black & Decker, a total of $64.4 million in 2011.

Edwin F. Hale Sr., the Baltimore trucking magnate and developer, said Friday that he has retired as chief executive and chairman of First Mariner Bancorp — the banking company he built from scratch and has struggled in the last several years to save from failure.

With director Jason Winer and star Julie Bowen, TV's biggest comedy has a heavy helping of Baltimore DNA.

Shareholders for Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group Inc. and Chicago-based Exelon Corp. have approved the merger of the two energy companies.

Shareholders for Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group Inc. and Chicago-based Exelon Corp. today approved the merger of the two energy companies.

What's good for Constellation isn't necessarily good for the rest of us

Two Maryland senators called on state energy regulators Thursday to order the spinoff of Baltimore Gas and Electric as an independent, publicly traded company as a condition of approving the merger between BGE's parent Constellation Energy Group and Chicago-based Exelon Corp.

Professors at the University of Maryland and University of Illinois business schools say Netflix sowed confusion among customers and failed to respond to changing business conditions.

Exelon COO Christopher M. Crane said Wednesday that some 600 corporate positions would be eliminated under a Constellation-Exelon merger.