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Business

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Briefs

Local firm sells e-cards for charities

A local company is combining social networking with charity fundraising.

Fort Wayne-based g3c LLC, Great Games, Good Causes on Thursday announced the launch of Wishing Well Cards, a virtual-card application for Facebook. When users send one of the premium holiday cards, g3c will make a donation to one of three charities.

Some cards are free, but the premium cards carry a price of $1 or $2. CEO Melinda Schriver said 50 percent to 75 percent of that fee will be donated to Feeding America, Save the Children or Toys for Tots. The user selects the non-profit recipient. Wishing Well Cards are found on Facebook at apps.facebook.com/wishingwellcards.

AOL finishes spinoff of Time Warner

AOL resumed life as an independent Internet company Thursday as it completed its spinoff from Time Warner Inc. and closed the book on one of the most disastrous business combinations in history.

AOL shares fell 15 cents to close at $23.52 Thursday. Time Warner stock closed up $1.23, or 4.2 percent, at $30.45.

Today’s AOL is much different from the company once known as America Online, which got big in the 1990s by selling dial-up Internet access and then used $147 billion of its inflated stock to buy Time Warner. AOL, which is now worth about $2 billion, is trying to get most of its money from running advertisements on its Web sites.

GM, Chrysler used bailout for daily costs

General Motors and Chrysler have used the majority of their bailout money for day-to-day expenses such as payroll costs and payments to suppliers, a government watchdog has found.

A report released Thursday by the special inspector general for the $700 billion financial bailout fund said GM used 65 percent, or about $32 billion, for operating expenses such as payments to employees and suppliers. GM has received $49.5 billion from the government.

Chrysler has used 84 percent of its funds on day-to-day expenses. Chrysler has received $12.5 billion in total.

The report says GM has $13.7 billion left in bailout funds. GM’s Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre Jr. has said GM might repay its government loans in one lump sum.

GE gets turbine pact for largest wind farm

General Electric Co. on Thursday said it has received a $1.4 billion contract to supply wind turbines and related services for a wind farm project that is expected to be the largest ever.

The company says the order from independent power producer Caithness Energy is its largest for its 2.5xl wind turbines. It will install 338 of the turbines, which are already in use in Europe and Asia, between 2011 and 2012.

The 845-megawatt Shepherds Flat project in Oregon has received most of the government permits it needs to run.

McDonald’s to roll out $1 breakfast menu

McDonald’s Corp. will begin selling a variety of breakfast items for $1 early next month, a spokeswoman for the world’s largest hamburger chain said Thursday.

The move to add to its already popular dollar menu comes as McDonald’s tries to fight a decline in U.S. sales, which have slipped following months of success when its cheap eats were a big draw in a recession.