Morning Links: 13 March 2008

Guitar Hero maker tangles with Gibson, top execs changing at Nissan and GM in Spring Hill, an interim CFO at Cracker Barrel, BioMimetic sees '08 turnaround, and more...

Email | Print By Geert De Lombaerde

Gibson Guitar is sparring with Activision, the maker of the popular Guitar Hero computer game, alleging trademark infringements.

BioMimetic Therapeutics (Ticker: BMTI) yesterday reported a greater-than-expected fourth-quarter loss of 37 cents per share. For 2008, CEO Sam Lynch expects pre-tax profits of $2 million to $9 million – a reverse from this past year – and positive cash flows of between $4 million and $11 million.

Forrest Shoaf, the secretary and general counsel at CBRL Group Inc., has been named interim CFO of the restaurant operator (Ticker: CBRL). The former J.C. Bradford banker is filling in for the retired Lawrence White, who stepped down as CFO Feb. 1.

Mark McNabb, the head of sales at Nissan North America, is leaving at the end of the month for a competitor – a year after returning to the Nashville-based U.S. operations. Nissan will bring in an exec now in Europe.

A local start-up's deal to buy a hospital south of Chicago has fallen through after the financial backer pulled out.

Harvey Thomas, the manager of General Motors' Spring Hill plant, will retire April 1 after 30 years with the auto maker. James "Mike" Quinton will move from a GM plant in Georgia.

Corrections Corp. of America President and CEO John Ferguson on Monday exercised options to buy 18,000 shares, which he then sold, grossing almost $500,000.

American HomePatient (Ticker: AHOM) posted a small loss during the fourth quarter and saw its full-year losses more than double.

Randle Richardson, the CEO of Nashville-based Community Education Partners, is being called to account for his company's work with troubled Atlanta students. The ACLU this week sued both CEP and Atlanta school officials.