Local & State

Midlands

Thompson Industrial Services creating 80 new S.C. jobs

SUMTER Thompson Industrial Services plans to create about 80 new jobs in South Carolina this fall as part of a Southeastern expansion. The company – a provider of industrial hydroblasting and vacuum services – will create 200 jobs throughout the region, including service technicians, equipment operators, supervisors and management trainees. Around 50 of the jobs will be created at the company’s Sumter headquarters, and another 30 in the Charleston regional office. The company expects to wrap up hiring by the end of September. For jobs: www.thompsonsoutheast.com/careers/

Upstate

Watermark Advisors releases free video briefs on growing a company

GREENVILLE Investment bank Watermark Advisors in Greenville recently released more than 25 video briefs on mastering eight areas for growing a company, including: strategy, market positioning, people, process and procedures, financial results, culture, innovation and momentum. The three- to four-minute videos are available for free at www.watermarkadvisors.com/paradigm. To access them, viewers must “opt-in” to the video library by providing a name and email address.

Nation & World

Best Buy co-founder offers

to take retailer private

NEW YORK Best Buy’s co-founder is looking to make a buy of his own, offering to take the electronics seller private only months after leaving as the company’s chairman. Best Buy said it would consider the offer but called it “highly conditional.” And analysts are skeptical that former chairman Richard Schulze’s opening offer of $24 to $26 per share would get a deal done and that it could be tricky to line up investment firms to help pay for it. It’s the latest twist in the Minneapolis company’s struggles to stay relevant as more people buy electronics online. Over the past year, it has announced a major restructuring plan and fired CEO Brian Dunn amid allegations that he had an inappropriate relationship with a female employee. Best Buy is trying to avoid the fate of its rival Circuit City, which went bankrupt in 2009, partly because of changing shopper habits. The offer values the company at as much as $8.84 billion. Schulze already has 20.1 percent of the stock in the company, so paying for the rest of shares would mean coming up with about $6.9 billion.

U.S. stocks ride tailwind of optimism from job numbers

NEW YORK U.S. stocks ended higher on a day marked by uncharacteristic quiet following a turbulent week. In the absence of major economic news, stocks were riding a tailwind of optimism from the most recent U.S. job numbers released last week and hope for more action by European authorities to address that region’s debt crisis. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 22 points at 13,118. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index added three points to 1,394. Earlier, the index came within half a point of 1,400, where it hasn’t traded since May 3. The Nasdaq index rose 22 points to 2,990. About two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was lower than average at 3 billion shares.

Kristy Eppley Rupon and The Associated Press contributed.