An online game company owned by Walt Disney Co. is paying $3 million to settle federal charges that it illegally collected and disclosed personal information from hundreds of thousands of children younger than 13 without their parents’ consent.
The Federal Trade Commission said the settlement with Playdom Inc. announced Thursday represents the largest civil penalty ever for a violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
The FTC alleges Playdom operated 20 websites that collected children’s ages and email addresses during registration and allowed children to post their names, email addresses, instant messenger IDs and location on personal profile pages and in online community forums. Between 2006 and 2010, about 403,000 children registered with Playdom’s general sites. An additional 821,000 users registered with its Pony Stars site for children, the FTC said.
Processing delays belie foreclosure slowdown
Fewer Americans had their homes repossessed by banks or were put on notice for being behind on their mortgage payments in April compared to a year ago.
That would ordinarily suggest improving fortunes for U.S. homeowners, but the decline had less to do with any turnaround in the housing market than with foreclosure processing delays that appear to be getting worse. That is threatening to drag out a housing recovery, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.
Banks repossessed 69,532 homes last month, down 5 percent from March and down 25 percent compared with April of last year, according to RealtyTrac, which tracks warnings sent to homeowners throughout the foreclosure process.
Ford CEO Mulally has no plans to leave
Ford CEO Alan Mulally brushed aside talk of retirement on Thursday, saying he hasn’t given any thought to stepping down now that the company is profitable.
“I haven’t thought about that at all,” Mulally, 65, said during a brief meeting with reporters after Ford Motor Co.’s annual shareholders meeting in Wilmington, Del.
Mulally’s retirement is the subject of frequent speculation because he turns 66 in August.
Mulally said he’s pleased to be with Ford and has no plans beyond that. Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford, who fired himself and hired Mulally as CEO in 2006, joked that there won’t be any discussion about Mulally leaving until 2025. The company doesn’t have a mandatory retirement age.
GM’s chief executive buys 30,000 shares
General Motors CEO Dan Akerson has invested more of his own money in the company.
The company says in a regulatory filing that Akerson bought 30,000 GM shares for $31.33 each. That means he spent $940,000.
The purchase increases his personal holdings of GM stock to 50,000 shares.
The stock debuted in November. But it has slumped since hitting a high of $38.98 on Jan. 7. GM has closed below its $33 initial public offering price since May 4. Investors have pushed down the price because they’re worried about the government selling its 500 million shares of GM. They’re also concerned about the effect of high gas prices and rising costs on profits.
GM’s stock price rose 12 cents to $31.42 Thursday, meaning Akerson’s holdings are currently worth $1.6 million.
