Consumer Confidential: Google buys Zagat, Saab on ropes, Schweddy Balls

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Here’s your threadbare Thursday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

-- Google has given the rating guide Zagat a glowing review. That’s to say, it bought the company. Google says the 32-year-old Zagat, which polls consumers and compiles reviews on restaurants around the world, will become a cornerstone of its ‘local offering’ and work in tandem with its mapping services and core search engine. Founded by Tim and Nina Zagat, their eponymous service provides pocket-sized guides to restaurants in more than 100 cities. ‘We are thrilled to see our baby placed in such good hands and to start today as official ‘Googlers,’ ‘ the founders said in a joint statement. Zagat will go up against competing services popular with users on the Internet, including Yelp.

-- Looks like Swedish auto maker Saab won’t be getting an easy ride to reorganization. A Swedish court has rejected the company’s application for creditor protection, paving the way for possible bankruptcy filings from labor unions within days. The ruling by the Vanersborg District Court is the latest setback for cash-strapped Saab as it scrambles to solve a liquidity crisis that has left it teetering on the brink of collapse. Saab said it would appeal. The company is struggling to pay suppliers and staff and production at its manufacturing plant in Trollhattan, Sweden, has been suspended for most of the year. The two biggest unions representing Saab’s 3,700 employees said they would take bankruptcy action within days on behalf of members still waiting for their August salaries.

-- You just can’t beat Schweddy Balls. This is, in case you don’t know, a bit from a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit featuring Alec Baldwin as bakery owner Pete Schweddy, whose unique holiday offerings included something called Schweddy Balls. And now it’s a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor. Sean Greenwood, a spokesman for the Vermont company, says Ben & Jerry’s isn’t worried about offending people with the name. He says one of the company’s principles is to do fun things, just as it did with previous flavors like Karamel Sutra and Half Baked. The new flavor consists of vanilla ice cream, rum, fudge-covered rum balls and milk chocolate malt balls.

-- David Lazarus