New product: The Rouge Collection has launched a smartphone app that will allow readers to keep up with the site, read articles and watch videos wherever they are. Developed by Southern University grad Chance Lewis, the app is out now on iTunes and Google Play. Gary Chambers, founder of The Rouge Collection, announced the app on Wednesday on Facebook Live. “It’s going to have frequent updates, but we are excited about it,” Chambers wrote in a text message. “It’s a start.” Check out Chambers’ column in the newest issue of Business Report.
Surviving the ‘tsunami’: Dan Borné, president of the Louisiana Chemical Association, urged business leaders at Wednesday’s meeting of the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge to work with public policy groups to fix the state’s tax code, state spending and investment incentives programs. “It’s not only important to do this,” Borné says. “It’s absolutely necessary if we want to reverse the impact of the serious and negative change in Louisiana’s business climate.” He made the call after talking at length about the “tsunami of new taxes” heaped on businesses by the Legislature during the recent sessions and how they created “significant change in Louisiana’s business climate, a change that will negatively impact investments in new businesses, expansions of existing businesses, and job growth.”
Historic deal: Shareholders of Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co. approved the companies’ historic merger, clearing a hurdle for the deal to close this year and for a later split into three entities. Bloomberg News reports majorities of both sets of stockholders approved the 50-50 combination of the two largest U.S. chemical makers, the companies said in a joint statement Wednesday. The $59 billion all-stock transaction, a record for the industry, was announced Dec. 11. Both companies are eliminating thousands of jobs as they cut billions of dollars in expenses, with another $3 billion of cost savings promised after the deal closes. It’s unknown how the merger will affect the facilities in Louisiana owned by both Dow and DuPont. See the full story.
