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It’s B-Day.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke takes center stage Wednesday. At a highly anticipated afternoon press conference, he’s expected to discuss when the central bank could begin tapering the pace of its bond purchases.

The Fed’s bond-buying program has been a boon to equity markets, supporting U.S. and global stock indexes and driving them to recent record highs.

Any comments from Bernanke suggesting that the program’s end is near would likely lead to significant declines.

“Bernanke has to address asset purchases and every nuance in his replies will be seized upon by markets,” said Deutsche Bank economist Jim Reid, in a research note.

Bernanke is scheduled to speak at 2:30 p.m. ET, following the conclusion of the Fed’s latest two-day monetary policy meeting.

Related: Bond investors bracing for Bernanke

U.S. stock futures were little changed early Wednesday. But stocks rose for a third day in a row on Tuesday.

“Investors this week have scaled back expectations of an immediate unwinding of stimulus by the Fed, hopeful that the patchy run of data from the U.S. economy will prevent a reduction in asset purchases in the near term,” said Ishaq Siddiqi, a market strategist at ETX Capital in London.

Related: Fear Greed Index, still languishing in fear

In corporate news, shares of Tesla Motors (TSLA) dipped 2% after the automaker announced a recall of some of its Model S cars for a non-mechanical defect.

Shipping giant FedEx (FDX, Fortune 500) reported quarterly earnings the blew pas forecasts, though revenue was roughly in line with estimates. The company is often seen as a bellwether for the global economy given the nature of its delivery business and its international footprint.

Related: Fed watchers say Bernanke won’t act now

Adobe (ADBE) shares rose nearly 7% after the software company reported quarterly earnings that beat expectations.

Dish Networks (DISH, Fortune 500) dropped its pursuit of Sprint (S, Fortune 500), clearing the way for Japan’s Softbank (SFTBF) to continue with its offer. Dish said it would instead focus on its tender offer for Clearwire (CLWR).

On the international stage, European markets were flat in early trading. London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index slipped slightly, while the DAX in Frankfurt managed tepid gains and the CAC 40 in Paris was little changed.

Asian markets ended mixed. Japan’s Nikkei index rallied by 1.8%, helped by strong export data. But the Hang Seng in Hong Kong moved in the opposite direction, sinking by 1.1%. The Shanghai Composite index also dipped down by 0.7%.

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/money_latest/~3/sXL87YmAVXc/index.html

Oil workers on a rig in Midland County, Texas. Growth in U.S. oil production is putting pressure on OPEC.

Surging U.S. oil production and greater energy conservation are helping keep a lid on oil prices worldwide and may be limiting the sway OPEC holds over world markets.

U.S. oil output rose by 14% in 2012, BP reported last week in its annual statistical review. The million barrel-per-day jump in output was the largest increase for any country in 2012, and the fastest single year increase in U.S. history.

“The tidal wave of oil coming out of the United States helped to [quench] the market’s thirst,” said Blake Clayton, a Fellow for Energy and National Security at Council on Foreign Relations. “Tremendous increases in energy efficiency in the United States and Europe are helping to soften the market.”

Though currently teetering close to the $100-a-barrel mark, oil prices have not crossed the $100 line in over a year.

This isn’t to suggest OPEC is irrelevant — the cartel still controls the vast majority of world oil reserves. But “OPEC’s ability to keep prices at today’s levels could come under tremendous pressure,” said Clayton. “There is no guarantee that the triple-digit oil prices of the last few years will be the new normal in the decade to come.”

Other analysts agree.

While OPEC may be able to cut production and prop up prices in the short term, “over the longer-term a loss of pricing leverage is becoming more probable,” Greg Priddy, an oil analyst at Eurasia Group, wrote in a recent research note.

Related: Oil companies target America

Beyond the rapid growth in U.S. oil output, the supply from OPEC producers such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar also hit a record. Libyan production recovered strongly after a sharp drop in output during the country’s civil war.

In the United States, the sharp growth in oil production mainly came from Texas’ Eagle Ford Shale and North Dakota’s Bakken Shale.

Since 2008, the widespread use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking for short, has helped tap oil from previously inaccessible shale formations. The technique is controversial — some fear it is contaminating the ground water and leading to other environmental problems. But it has contributed significantly to the economic boom in many parts of the nation.

Spurred by oil development, North Dakota and Texas topped the nation’s fastest-growing states last year, according to a recent report by the Department of Commerce.

Communities throughout the states are benefiting from the energy boom. South Texas — formerly one of the poorest areas in the country — saw $61 billion in direct and indirect economic activity, and supported nearly 120,000 full-time jobs in 2012, according to a recent study by the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Nationwide, oil and gas contributed nearly $238 billion to the U.S. economy in 2012. Oil and gas production currently supports more than 1.7 million U.S. jobs, and is projected to support nearly 3 million jobs by 2020, according to the consultancy IHS.

Conservation is also helping stabilize the price of oil.

Global oil consumption grew by 890,000 barrels per day in 2012, or 0.9% — which is below the historical average, according to the BP report. Oil had the weakest global growth rate among fossil fuels for the third consecutive year.

“Consumers around the world are over reducing the amount of money they sink into fuel, simply due to pain at the pump,” said Council on Foreign Relations’ Clayton.

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/money_latest/~3/VCxuNJK5_xI/index.html

At Pixel Academy in Brooklyn, kids design video games, build apps and learn computer programming.

Sarah Broach’s son Marlon would rather stick a fork in his eye than play soccer, but he can design one heck of a video game.

The Broachs are part of a number of families eager to give their kids an edge, and maybe even a shot at being tech’s new kid millionaire, by having them learn computer coding — the fundamentals of how to build websites, make apps and design video games.

Marlon, 13, had tried one sport and after-school activity after another, but none of them stuck. That was until he started going to Pixel Academy, an extracurricular tech wonderland for kids in Brooklyn, NY.

“Every parent’s constant anxiety is screen time,” said Broach, who lives in New York’s East Village. “At Pixel Academy, he’s spending time in front of a screen and learning at the same time.”

Marlon, like the other 50 kids who go to Pixel Academy, learns to code, make movies with special effects and use the 3-D printer. He made Broach a 3-D heart from the printer for Mother’s Day.

Mike Fischthal, a former 3-D animator at Nickelodeon, started Pixel earlier this year. It’s grown so quickly that the academy is ready to hire an eighth employee this summer and will run a 3-week camp in July, after parents pleaded for one. The youngest coder at the academy is six years old.

The conditions are just right for a place like Pixel Academy to thrive. Earlier this year, the kid coding craze heated up after tech executives Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) founder Bill Gates, Facebook (FB) founder Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey released a video urging kids to learn how to code.

Add to that the recent tech wunderkind stories — David Karp sold blogging site Tumblr, which he built at 20-years-old, to Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) for $1.1 billion, and 17-year-old Nick D’Aloisio sold his news-reading app also to Yahoo for tens of millions. Karp dropped out of high school, and D’Aloisio started coding at the age of 12.

Similar schools across the country and online, including Codeacademy and CoderDojo, with branches in Minneapolis, Seattle and Bismark, ND, have also cropped up to meet the growing demand.

“Parents read in the news that we’re falling behind in science in engineering careers. When their kids come here, they can stop worrying about schools keeping up to date with technology,” said Fischthal, 30, who sunk his life savings and retirement account into opening Pixel Academy.

Besides, it’s where the jobs are. Computer-related jobs are expected to grow by about 22% between 2010 and 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and web developers can make $30 an hour without even having a degree.

Broach, who’s read that there’s a lack of computer scientists coming out of college, wants Marlon to have the chance to learn as much about programming as a child, but in a fun way.

“I don’t want him to be a vegetable staring at a screen,” she said. “Some of the kids at Pixel could be the next David Karp.”

Similarly, Josh Wolf-Powers was looking for a way to make screen time less isolating for his video game-obsessed 8-year-old son Sasha. Now, Sasha is using the coding skills he’s learning at Pixel to design a sword for the popular game Minecraft.

“My son will sit and stare at a computer for hours and not interact with anyone except for the occasional nasty comment when anyone dares interrupt him,” he said. “Pixel Academy provides an alternative where he’s interacting with older, more experience kids.”

“And they’re providing child care. I’d jump at that.”

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/money_latest/~3/jrGM93InVE0/index.html

Kelly Mears has a lot at stake in the debate over government-subsidized student loan interest rates, which are slated to double on July 1.

When Kelly Mears graduates from Union College in the summer of 2015, she will have $100,000 in student loans.

Armed with a political science degree, Mears will join more than a million Americans who have racked up breathtaking amounts of student debt.

Mears is also one of 7 million undergraduates caught in the middle of a debate in Washington over government-subsidized student loans, as interest rates are set to double to 6.8% from 3.4% on July 1.

“It just seems to be a part of the growing American experience to go to school, graduate and work off that debt for the rest of your life,” Mears said.

Super-borrowers with $100,000 of student loan debt aren’t the norm. The average student graduates with $27,000 of loan debt.

The New York Fed said those who borrow $100,000 or more are about 3.1% of borrowers nationwide. But it’s easy to see how students get there, with four years of private college tuition running $116,000 on average, according to the College Board.

At Union, a small liberal arts school in Schenectady, N.Y., tuition is $58,000 a year, according to its website.

Related: What’s at stake

When Mears was ready for college, her parents had just lost their home to foreclosure in Murrieta, Calif. But Mears fell in love with Union College when she started in 2011.

The South California native was attracted by the college’s claim that it was affordable, and that it gave out lots of financial help. Mears mistakenly believed that she would qualify for more financial help than she ended up getting.

The school awards more than $60 million in financial aid to students from federal, state and other agencies, as well as from the school’s own pockets, said Union College spokeswoman Christen Gowan.

“We consistently meet the full, demonstrated financial need of our students,” Gowan said. She didn’t comment on Mears’ case, because the college has a policy against discussing the individual financial situations of its students.

Mears found out she didn’t qualify for help, because of her family’s middle class income. Her dad has worked for the California Highway Patrol for more than 20 years.

Despite the heavy loan burden, Mears says she doesn’t regret her choice because she enjoys the small class sizes. She has no plans to leave Union College.

“I was in the classroom of 20 kids in an entry level course, and 8 kids in a higher level courses — that’s absolutely worthwhile,” she said.

She also spent the last few months studying in Washington D.C., receiving college credit while interning at the People for the American Way, an advocacy group. This fall, she’ll study political science in Athens, Greece. These opportunities are included in her tuition and are a big part why Union College is worth graduating with $100,000 in debt, Mears said.

With her parents and grandparents footing part of the bill, Mears has $66,000 in loans only halfway through her college education. While a majority of the loans are from private banks, $12,000 are government loans.

Any future subsidized loans she takes in her junior and senior year of college will end up being more costly for Mears if rates go up on July 1. She expects to take another $8,000 for the next two years, which would mean an extra $1,600 in interest payments.

Related: Don’t double my rates

Financial advocates advise families to have tough talks about ways students can avoid mountains of debt upon graduation.

“It’s not that students shouldn’t have college dreams and go to the college of their choice,” said Allesandra Lanza, spokeswoman for American Student Assistance, a nonprofit that gives graduates free advice on managing loan debt. “But students need to think about the long term: What are my likely career goals and what’s my monthly salary and what are my likely loan payments going to be?”

For Mears, there have been lots of sacrifices. While friends have gone to amusement parks, or Cape Cod in Massachusetts or even Canada for Spring Break, she’s opted for cheaper options, like visiting homes of friends from the East Coast. She can’t afford the $500-plus plane tickets to visit her family on the other coast.

This summer, she’s dog-sitting and babysitting while interviewing for summer jobs. Her employer during the winter break, the retail store Kohl’s (KSS, Fortune 500), isn’t hiring.

She’s also taking time to figure out a five-year plan, including what she’d like to do after graduation. She hopes to work in advocacy of human or women’s rights.

“One thing I do know for sure, is that grad school is off my list for things to do for now,” Mears said. “Financially, it doesn’t seem in my future.”

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/money_latest/~3/hR0-ICvERmM/index.html

Psychology majors are almost twice as likely to end up working as a barista than other underemployed grads, PayScale found.

What you major in can mean the difference between making an annual salary or making Frappucinos post-graduation, according to a recent report.

While underemployment is an issue facing many graduates, those who major in business administration and management, criminal justice, drama, English and psychology, are more likely to work in jobs they are overqualified for, according to a report released Tuesday by career web site PayScale.

Based on an analysis of PayScale’s 40 million job profiles, the report looked at the top ten majors most affected by underemployment, and the most common jobs graduates with bachelor’s degrees in these fields settled for post-graduation.

Those who majored in business administration and management are 8.2 times more likely to find work in a job beneath their skill level, the report found. Those with criminal justice and drama degrees are nearly 7 times more likely to be underemployed, and liberal arts, anthropology, psychology and English degree holders aren’t doing so well compared to their peers either.

Related: College degrees with the biggest bang for your buck

“In today’s economy, having a college degree no longer guarantees placement into a white collar job,” said Katie Bardaro, lead economist for PayScale. “The labor pool is oversaturated with college graduates, and job opportunities are simply not there.”

Among underemployed graduates with business administration and management degrees, the most common jobs included retail store assistant manager, waiter or credit and collections manager, PayScale found. This is despite the fact that the Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ expects some of the jobs that business administration majors commonly pursue — like management analyst positions — to grow by as much as 22% (faster than average) until the year 2020.

Part of the problem is that most students aren’t graduating with specialized degrees, such as accounting or finance, says Bardaro. But another issue is that there are simply too many graduates majoring in the field. “For these majors, more people are graduating than are in demand by potential employers,” she said.

Related: Millennials: Don’t call me entitled

Beleaguered psychology majors are nearly twice as likely to end up working as a barista at a coffee shop than college grads with other majors, PayScale found. The typical median starting pay for a full-time barista is $19,000. Meanwhile, liberal arts and anthropology majors are commonly finding work as administrative assistants, where the median starting pay is a little more than $30,000 a year.

Underemployment not only has a negative effect on graduates looking for jobs, it has a ripple effect that is felt throughout the economy as a whole. Workers that do not hold college degrees are being pushed out of jobs that degree holders are taking, said Bardaro.

“As fewer people are able to find the jobs that match their qualifications or desired hours, less money cycles through the economy and businesses continue to hold back on hiring,” she said.

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/money_latest/~3/jIw904onomw/index.html

Men have been dropping out of the workforce for decades.

Men have been steadily disappearing from the workforce for more than half a century.

In the 1950s, nearly every man in his prime working years was in the labor force, a category that includes both those who are employed and those actively applying for jobs. The “participation rate” for men ages 25 to 54 stood at 97.7% in early 1956, but drifted downward to a post-war record low of 88.4% at the end of 2012. (It ticked up very slightly at the start of this year to 88.6%.)

So where have all the men workers gone?

Some went into prison. Others are on disability. And still others can’t find jobs and have simply given up looking.

The trend is particularly pronounced among the less educated. As the job market shifted away from blue-collar positions that required only a high-school degree to more skilled labor, many men were left behind, labor analysts say. It’s harder these days to find well-paying jobs in manufacturing, production and other fields traditionally dominated by men without college diplomas.

But college men are leaving, too. The participation rate of those older than 25 and holding at least bachelor’s degree fell to 80.2% in May, down from 87.2% in May 1992.

“The proportion of guys doing nothing has risen,” said Gary Burtless, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

The cycles of national economic prosperity since World War II have done little to stem this downward slide. In fact, even when the unemployment rate hit a 30-year low in the early 2000s, the share of men in the workforce continued its steady decline.

The Great Recession accelerated the trend, pushing the participation rate for men in their prime working years below 90% for the first time. It has yet to recover, even as the general economy improves.

Here’s a closer look at the reasons why men are dropping out of the labor force.

Incarceration: A growing number of men have spent time in prison, which makes it much harder to find a job once they complete their sentences.

Looking at those born just after World War II, some 1.2% of white men and 9% of black men had been to prison by 2004, according to Bruce Western, a Harvard sociology professor. But looking at those born 30 years later, some 3.3% of white men and 20.7% of black men had been to prison.

Disability: More men have been pouring into the federal disability system, especially in recent years, when the Great Recession and its aftermath pushed up the national unemployment rate. Men who might have found a job in a better labor market were instead turning to this safety net system, according to David Autor, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economics professor and co-author of Wayward Sons, which looks at the growing gender gap in education and the workforce.

In 1982, around 1.9% of working-age men were receiving disability benefits. By 2012, that number had climbed to 3.1%, according to data crunched by the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Once on the disability rolls, few people get off. Only 2.2% left the program in the first quarter of 2013.

Lack of education: A few decades ago, men could graduate high school and make a decent living on a factory floor or at a construction job. As the labor market becomes more skilled, those guys are being left behind.

In the 1960s, more men than women were enrolling in and completing college. “That’s completely reversed itself,” Burtless said. “Women’s persistence and enrollment rates have given them a real edge over men.”

Women born in 1975 were roughly 17% more likely than their male counterparts to attend college and nearly 23% more likely to complete a four-year degree, according to data in Wayward Sons.

“A lot of non-college men have chosen not to work rather than participate in jobs that don’t pay that well and are not very satisfying,” Autor said.

Related: College degrees with the best bang for your buck

The decline of men in the labor force has broad implications for families, taxpayers and the economy. Fewer employed men means more people on the dole and fewer taxpayers to contribute to the nation’s economic growth.

Also, fewer of these men are in stable family relationships, contributing to growth of single-parent households. That fuels the widening income inequality gap and stunts the upward economic mobility of the next generation.

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/money_latest/~3/Q514qn41Rsc/index.html

Investors fled bond funds following a hint that the Federal Reserve might taper the bond-buying plan.

Investors have been bailing out of bond funds as they worry about the Fed’s next move.

During the week ended June 12, investors pulled a record $14.45 billion out of bond funds and $8.5 billion out of equity funds, according to EPFR, a research firm that tracks global fund flows.

The Federal Reserve is wrapping up its two-day meeting Wednesday and investors are keen to hear what Fed chairman Ben Bernanke has to say. The Fed is also going to release a new economic forecast. Many think the Fed will emphasize downside risks, and slightly reduce forecasts for GDP growth and inflation.

Ever since Bernanke hinted at tapering the central bank’s massive bond buying program last month, investors have been on edge. Stocks turned volatile and bond yields started to rise.

If Bernanke says Wednesday that the Fed plans to start pulling back, experts say bond investors will continue to head for the exits.

“The first rush is usually the biggest and a lot will depend on the details of the unwinding process,” said Cameron Brandt, director of research at EPFR.

But there’s no need to panic, says Kim Rupert, managing director of global fixed income at consulting firm Action Economics.

“Bond prices will move lower and interest rates may edge higher,” said Rupert. “But the market is a little bit over exaggerating the winding down of Fed. The process will be slow and relatively gradual to start with.”

Related: Fed not expected to taper QE3 until December

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note has edged up to 2.2% from 1.6% at the start of May but inflation has remained low at around 1%, so it’s unlikely that the Fed will start raising rates anytime soon.

“The Fed might quit their quantitative easing purchases at some point this year or earlier next year,” Rupert said. “But they are not likely to raise the interest rate until 2015.”

Brandt agrees.

“The Fed has not been talking about raising its key interest rate,” he said. “The U.S. remains a “safe haven” play despite its growing public debt, and the fact that the recovery appears to have some traction reinforces this. So demand for Treasuries may hold up even if the Fed cuts back.”

Most experts think the yield on the 10-year Treasury note will continue to edge higher this year, albeit at a measured pace.

“The odds are pretty high that investors will calm down a bit in the weeks ahead unless Bernanke starts spelling out a hard schedule for winding down QE3,” Brandt said.

Bond yields are still a far cry from the financial crisis era highs of near 4%. Most experts peg the yield at 2.5% to maybe 3% by year end.

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/money_latest/~3/J3EDXXDJAZk/index.html

Tesla announced a recall of some of its recently-built Model S early Wednesday.

Tesla Motors has announced a recall of hundreds of its Model S vehicles for a seat problem.

CEO Elon Musk announced the recall with a tweet and a blog post early Wednesday.

Musk said Tesla has discovered a problem with a weld that could allow one of the back seats to come loose in the case of an accident.

The electric car maker will contact the affected vehicles’ owners and arrange to pick up the cars at their convenience, give them a loaner Model S if necessary, and return their cars within a few hours.

Musk said there had been no customer complaints, no injuries or near injuries caused by the problem, and that it was not brought to the company’s attention by any safety regulator.

Related: 9 questions for Elon Musk

The cars being recalled were built over four weeks in May and early June. Given that Tesla said it planned to build about 5,000 Model S in the quarter, suggesting that about 1,600 cars could be affected by the recall, though the announcement did not give a specific number. It is not known how many of the affected vehicles had already been sold and delivered to customers.

The Model S has won rave reviews, with Consumer Reports calling it the best car it has ever tested and Motor Trend giving it Car of the Year honors.

Tesla’s announcement is in stark contrast, in both size, seriousness of the problem and automaker response, to Tuesday’s news that Chrysler Group was relenting and recalling 2.7 million Jeeps. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration believes the Jeeps pose an increased fire risk if hit from behind.

Chrysler had initially insisted it wouldn’t do a recall and continued to say the older model Grand Cherokees and Libertys are safe. But it agreed to the recall when faced with the prospect of a public hearing into the problem and the deaths that occurred.

Related: Chrysler relents, agrees to recall 2.7 million Jeeps

The shares of Tesla (TSLA), which have tripled in value so far this year, were down in premarket trading on the recall announcement.

Start-up Tesla had its first recall in 2010. It recalled 429 of its Roadsters after a single customer incident prompted it to replace a power cable.

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/money_latest/~3/Drtuszpx33Y/index.html

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It’s B-Day.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke takes center stage Wednesday and investors are hoping he’ll provide some clarity on when the central bank could begin tapering the pace of its bond purchases.

As investors waited, stocks dipped into the red. The Dow Jones industrial average and SP 500 slipped just 0.2% in early trading, while the Nasdaq edged down 0.1%.

The Fed’s bond-buying program has been a boon to equity markets, supporting U.S. and global stock indexes and driving them to recent record highs.

Click here for more on stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities

Any comments from Bernanke suggesting that the program’s end is near would likely lead to significant declines.

“Bernanke has to address asset purchases and every nuance in his replies will be seized upon by markets,” said Deutsche Bank economist Jim Reid in a research note.

The Fed will release a statement at the conclusion of the its latest monetary policy meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET. Bernanke is scheduled to speak at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Related: Bond investors bracing for Bernanke

In corporate news, shares of Tesla Motor (TSLA)dipped after the automaker announced a recall of some of its Model S cars for a non-mechanical defect.

FedEx (FDX, Fortune 500) shares edged higher after the shipping giant reported quarterly earnings the blew past forecasts, though revenue was roughly in line with estimates. The company is often seen as a bellwether for the global economy given the nature of its delivery business and its international footprint.

Adobe (ADBE) shares jumped after the software company reported quarterly earnings that beat expectations.

Dish Networks (DISH, Fortune 500) dropped its pursuit of Sprint (S, Fortune 500), clearing the way for Japan’s SoftBank (SFTBF) to continue with its offer. Dish said it would instead focus on its tender offer for Clearwire (CLWR).

Shares of Men’s Wearhouse (MW) slid after the clothing retailer “terminated” executive chairman George Zimmer, also known as the “I guarantee it” guy.

Related: Fed watchers say Bernanke won’t act now

On the international stage, European markets were down slightly in afternoon trading. Asian markets ended mixed. Japan’s Nikkei index rallied by 1.8%, helped by strong export data. But the Hang Seng in Hong Kong moved in the opposite direction, sinking by 1.1%. The Shanghai Composite index also dipped down by 0.7%.

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/money_latest/~3/5-hfzV0MaVs/index.html

Men’s Wearhouse executive chairman George Zimmer has been terminated, the clothing retailer said on Wednesday.

Men’s Wearhouse executive chairman George Zimmer has been “terminated,” the clothing retailer said on Wednesday.

Zimmer opened the company’s first store in Houston in 1973. He’s been the bearded face of Men’s Wearhouse (MW) in television ads for years, famously promising men, “You’re going to like the way you look. I guarantee it.”

The company’s press representatives declined to say why it fired the the co-founder.

“The Board [of Directors] expects to discuss with Mr. Zimmer the extent, if any, and terms of his ongoing relationship with the company,” the retailer said in a prepared statement.

Men’s Wearhouse also postponed its annual shareholders meeting, originally scheduled for Wednesday, “to re-nominate the existing slate of directors without Mr. Zimmer.” The company’s board of directors includes life and health guru Deepak Chopra.

Zimmer’s image was still all over the company web site on Wednesday morning, featuring Youtube links to his commercials, and a timeline explaining how he started the chain of stores.

Related: Megadeth’s Mustaine rips Men’s Wearhouse

There was even an online feature called “Ask George,” where customers can send him fashion questions or comments. CNNMoney sent a question to Zimmer via this web feature asking why he was fired, but there was no immediate response.

Zimmer owns 3.6% of the company’s shares, making him the largest single shareholder, according to Lionshares. The stock was down 1.8% in early trading.

In an interview with Fortune magazine in 2010, Zimmer explained how he got into the clothing business in the 1970s, selling suit samples out of his car trunk to department stores before opening his first Men’s Wearhouse. He said his chain rents out one out of three tuxedos in the U.S. and Canada.

Related: Zimmer on ‘How I got started’

He also said that he and the ad agency Red Ball Tiger came up with his “I guarantee it” slogan in 1997, targeted towards men who were self conscious about their appearance.

In a separate interview with Business 2.0, he said that he doesn’t run criminal background checks on prospective employees, but nonetheless loses less revenue to theft than other retailers.

“I believe in giving people a second chance,” said Zimmer, a recovering alcoholic.

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/money_latest/~3/qnbBJBpHjrI/index.html