Patriot Coal Corporation (PCX) was in focus Wednesday morning, thanks to some management shake-ups announced late Tuesday night. The company said that Paul Vining, who serves as president and chief operating officer, will step down effective immediately. However, Vining will do his part to ensure a smooth transition by staying on in a senior advisory role, potentially through the end of the year.

In order to fill the two roles left vacant by Vining, CEO Richard Whiting will now add the title of "president" to his resume. Meanwhile, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development Charles Ebetino Jr. scored a promotion to chief operating officer.

Bookseller Barnes & Noble (BKS) is slated to take its turn in the earnings spotlight before the opening bell Tuesday, Aug. 24. It's not exactly business as usual for Barnes & Noble, though -- with a proxy battle waging between Chairman Leonard Riggio and activist investor Ron Burkle, there's going to be an unusually harsh media glare on the quarterly results.

Of course, it's not just the financial media who will be eager to get a glimpse at Barnes & Noble's performance. Investors will also be chomping at the bit ahead of the firm's annual meeting, because Burkle has proposed a slate of three nominees for the retailer's board, and Riggio's seat is among those up for reelection. As Reuters' Phil Wahba explained it on Friday, "the extent of the damage is likely to affect who shareholders vote for at next month's annual meeting."

The foolishness that goes on in the adult world sets a poor example for the next generation. The poor decisions, arrogance and even stupidity of the Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) board of directors and the equally unfit to lead NCAA is shameful. Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle (ORCL) is correct in calling out the board of HP for firing CEO Mark Hurd, understanding the harm and injustice done to the company and its shareholders.

I can think of no more hypocritical organization then the NCAA, which has also shown itself to lack a sense of fair play and justice, while holding itself aloof and making demands of others. Its out-of-touch judgments and penalties for rules infractions make no sense, and USC students with no culpability were on the receiving end of it.

Mark Hurd, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), could receive as much as $40 million in severance benefits.

A loophole in Hurd's contract could bring him this big payout. It seems that his contract did not include specific language that would permit the company to fire him "for cause." Most contracts for chief executive contain specific language that detail the conditions under which he could be fired, including breaches of the company's ethical code.

The new so called Volcker rule is forcing banks to spin off their proprietary trading businesses. Goldman Sachs is following the lead of the other major banks and will spin off its proprietary trading unit. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) stock rose 1.89% to $156.09.

Goldman has been at the center of of a firestorm for critics of financial sector violations leading up to the 2008 crisis. On July 16, Goldman paid $550 million to settle civil fraud charges brought against them by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC.) The new Volcker rule, named after former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, restricts banks from proprietary trading and has new limits on the size of private equity funds.

The former British Petroleum (BP) reported a $17.15 billion loss in the second quarter. Revenue rose 29% to $10.51 billion, while debt increased to $5.82 billion as of June 30, from $5.50 billion on March 31.

BP has initiated several changes since the Macondo well explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. The company has booked a pre-tax charge of $32.2 billion to cover future and current costs from the containment and cleanup, compensation and fines relating to the oil spill.

Lots of reports surrounding embattled BP (BP) CEO Tony Hayward surfaced Monday morning. Some are saying that the company's board has made up its mind on Hayward's fate while other outlets are stressing that no decision has been made.

Whatever the board's current status, it sure seems like Tony Hayward has one foot out of the door and his demise is related directly to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Moreover, it appears that the company has tapped Bob Dudley to take over. Dudley is in charge of the cleanup and would be BP's first foreign CEO (Dudley is a U.S. citizen).

The lifeblood of business is credit. Unfortunately, the credit available has been shrinking instead of growing. As of June 30, U.S. commercial and industrial loans held by banks have declined to $1.24 trillion from $1.6 trillion in 2008

Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman cites that credit creation as the key to economic growth. He has prodded banks consistently to lend more. Banks, instead of loosing up. are making it harder for small businesses to get credit. Even those with a good credit rating are finding it hard to get loans. Bernanke stated: "Making credit accessible to sound small businesses is crucial to our economic recovery and so should be front and center among our current policy challenges." Again speaking to lenders he stated: "Our message is clear. Consistent with maintaining appropriately prudent standards, lenders should do all they can to meet the needs of creditworthy borrowers."

Former Target Corporation (TGT) merchandising chief and current Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) merchandising chief John Fleming will be leaving the world's largest retailer come August. The retailing veteran succumbed to four straight quarters of declining same-store sales, and made the personal decision to leave the company. In all fairness, would any merchandising chief had fared any better through the recent economic recession, even as Walmart fared well among all retailers?

Several communities in California are eliminating basic services and are hiring contractors to do the jobs.

San Carlos, the City of Good Living and a Silicon Valley suburb, is closing budget deficits by cutting out basic services and hiring contractors to do the jobs. San Carlos faces a budget deficit of $3.5 million on a budget of $25.8 million. Council members estimate that cutting out the police force will save $2 million. Another $500,000 will be saved by contracting out cutting of grass and cleaning restrooms. The council voted 4 to 1 to pursue the Mateo County Sheriff's Department on taking over the 32-member police force.

Where is eBay (EBAY) going these days? Sure, the online auctioneer has the same brand power it's had for years, but the transition to bulk discounter from garage-sale auction house hasn't really occurred like CEO John Donahoe wanted it to.

Instead, we see eBay's marketplace still filled with one-off auctions for all kinds of goods (and junk trading hands) along with thousands of Chinese-based bulk sellers selling everything for a few dollars each.