THE NEWS WRAP: Colorado kills 1,000+ jobs

The receivers of the Colorado Group have announced that 140 underperforming stores will be closed, affecting 1,042 staff.

The company will have no presence in the struggling New Zealand retail market, and there will be no Colorado-branded stores remaining, although some Colorado-branded footwear will be sold online and through Mathers and Williams outlets.

Colorado was owned by Australian Equity Partners after being bought out for $430 million in 2006. The retailer’s receivers are trying to sell the remainder of the business, and say they have received more than 70 expressions of interest.

Google sinks $US280m into solar

Google is investing $US280 million to help finance home solar projects, in the internet giant’s largest effort yet to promote clean energy.

Google says the money will go to create a fund that will help SolarCity, a company which provides solar energy options for homeowners and businesses, to finance more solar installations across the United States.

“We continue to look for other renewable energy investments that make business sense and help develop and deploy cleaner sources of energy,” Google’s Rick Needham says.

NZ billionaire Graeme Hart continues spending spree

New Zealand billionaire Graeme Hart has launched a $US1.6 billion bid for a US plastics company, making it his 10^th acquisition in six years.

Over the past six years, Hart has spent more than $US15 billion on a series of high leveraged deals. His latest bid has reignited speculation that he plans to float a global packaging group with a market value of $20 billion.

Overnight

The Australian dollar was over half a US cent higher this morning. Just after 6am, the Australian dollar was trading at US106.88 cents, up from US106.35 cents at close on Tuesday.

The local currency reached US110.11 cents on May 3, a record high since the currency was floated in December 1983.