Daily Herald business

If you've been waiting for the lowest possible airfare for a trip this summer, it may be time to get off the fence.

Legacy.com, a resource for online obituaries and memorials, has created a feature-rich online memorial, with a guest book, for Michael Jackson. Individuals can visit www.legacy.com to find the guest book and share their thoughts and express their condolences.

Honeywell announced Friday it has signed a $400 million agreement to acquire the RMG Group, a Kassel, Germany.-based global leader in natural gas measuring and control products, services and integrated solutions.

Sony Corp., the owner of rights to Michael Jackson's music, said it may boost production of the late pop icon's CDs after receiving "unprecedented" orders.

Michael Jackson spent the last years of his life buried in debt. But the King of Pop's death is likely to yield a financial bonanza more lucrative than any comeback tour ever could, as fans snap up his music and memorabilia and perhaps one day get the chance to tour his Neverland home.

A British company has won its bid to buy a Chicago-based clothier that made suits for President Barack Obama. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Friday approved the sale of Hartmarx Corp. to Britain-based Emerisque Brands and SKNL North America BV for $119 million.

Qantas Airways Ltd. said Friday it has canceled orders for some Boeing 787s and delayed delivery of others as the recession slows air travel and tight credit hampers purchases of new aircraft.

General Motors Corp. has confirmed it is bypassing a Janesville, Wis., plant and will use an idled assembly plant in Orion Township, Mich., and a parts stamping facility in Pontiac, Mich., to build small and compact cars, a move expected save 1,400 jobs.

The United States should aim to have manufacturing jobs comprise at least 20 percent of total employment, about twice what it is now, General Electric Co. Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt said Friday.

A federal judge has ordered disgraced financier Bernard Madoff to forfeit over $170 billion. Prosecutors say U.S. District Judge Denny Chin entered a preliminary order of forfeiture on Friday.

David Brown Kinloch could have lived elsewhere, but he chose to move into an abandoned home in a distressed Louisville neighborhood that others were leaving in droves.

General Electric Co. said Friday it will build a $100 million manufacturing technology center in Michigan that will eventually employ about 1,200 workers.

KB Home said Friday its new home orders in the second quarter spiked 59 percent over first-quarter levels, but its financial results still missed Wall Street's estimates.

Regulators on Friday shut down two small banks in Georgia, boosting to 42 the number of failures this year of federally insured banks. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the failed banks: Community Bank of West Georgia, based in Villa Rica, and Neighborhood Community Bank, located in Newnan.

The McClatchy Co.'s offer to exchange debt for a fraction of its value met a 9 percent acceptance rate, the newspaper publisher said Friday. The Sacramento-based company had hoped to exchange $1.15 billion in debt for $60 million in cash and $175 million in new notes to reduce its debt load in the face of a severe decline in advertising revenue.

At the height of his popularity in the 1980s, no entertainer was as big as Michael Jackson. People danced to his songs at weddings, graduation parties and bar mitzvahs. Kids wore white socks, dark shoes and sparkly gloves.

Households pushed their savings rate to the highest level in more than 15 years in May as a big boost in incomes from the government's stimulus program was devoted more to bolstering nest eggs than increased spending.

Hartmarx Corp., the bankrupt U.S. suitmaker that fought Wells Fargo & Co. to avoid liquidation, won court approval to sell itself to British private-equity firm Emerisque Brands U.K., U.S. Representative Phil Hare said.

Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd. said Friday it had canceled orders for 15 Boeing 787s and delayed the delivery of a further 15 aircraft due to turbulent market conditions.

Oil prices rose above $71 a barrel Friday as renewed attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria raised supply concerns and as the dollar slipped further against the euro, drawing investors into commodities.