Under one roof: Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is buying home goods retailer Cost Plus Inc. for about $495 million as it looks to offer a bigger variety of products to customers. Bed Bath & Beyond announced this morning that it will pay $22 for each Cost Plus share, a 22% premium to Cost Plus’ closing price of $17.99 on Tuesday. The data tracker FactSet says Cost Plus currently has about 22.5 million outstanding shares. Both companies’ boards have unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to close during Bed Bath & Beyond’s fiscal second quarter. The transaction will be funded with available cash.
Getting their wings: Responding to an outcry from pet owners, United Airlines is lifting a ban on transporting nine breeds of dogs, including pit bulls and others the airline previously considered dangerous. The Los Angeles Times reports United stopped transporting those breeds when it adopted the animal transporting policies of Continental Airlines. The two carriers are set to merge to become the nation’s largest airline this year. “As a result of feedback, United will now accept previously restricted breeds of dogs traveling in a non-plastic, reinforced crate,” United says in a statement. The carrier previously banned pit bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, Presa Canario, Perro de Presa Canario, Dogo Argentino, Cane Corso, Fila Brasileiro, Tosa (or Tosa ken) and Ca de Bou.
Millennial apes: The 8-year-old twins love their iPad. They draw, play games and expand their vocabulary. Their family’s teenagers also like the hand-held computer tablets, too, but the clan’s elders show no interest. The orangutans at Miami’s Jungle Island apparently are just like people when it comes to technology. The park is one of several zoos experimenting with computers and apes, letting its six orangutans use an iPad to communicate as part of a mental stimulus program. Linda Jacobs, who oversees the program, hopes the devices will eventually help bridge the gap between humans and the endangered apes. “Our young ones pick up on it. They understand it. It’s like, ‘Oh, I get this,’ ” Jacobs says. “Our two older ones, they just are not interested. I think they just figure, ‘I’ve gotten along just fine in this world without this communication skill here and the iPad, and I don’t need a computer.’ ” The Associated Press has the full story here.
