FORD SHEDS 5,000 JOBS: Ford Motor Co. began eliminating nearly 5,000 positions around the world Tuesday to cut costs and compete with leaner rivals. The company is cutting more than 3,000 nonunion jobs in North America and offering buyouts to 1,700 German workers. Executive vice president Jim Padilla said the moves are part of a worldwide effort to cut salary-related expenses by 10 percent. In North America, Ford will shed 1,700 agency, contract and supplemental employees who work at Ford but are employed by other companies, eliminate 1,300 open salaried positions and let go almost 50 full-time salaried workers. Meanwhile, United Auto Workers members at Ford and supplier Visteon Corp. have ratified their new four-year labor contract, the union said Tuesday.
JETBLUE HEADS TO BOSTON: JetBlue Airways will begin daily flights between Tampa International Airport and Boston's Logan International Airport Jan. 7. The airline is offering introductory fares starting at $79 each way for travel through Feb. 10. Regular one-way fares will range from $94 to $224, not including taxes and fees.
AIR FARES TO RISE BY $10: U.S. carriers including Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines plan to increase fares as much as $10 after a four-month U.S. tax break that helped carriers cut losses from the Iraq war expires Wednesday. Delta and Southwest will add the fee on top of base fares, company representatives said. American, United, Northwest and Continental Airlines and U.S. Airways declined to comment.
HDTV LINEUP EXPANDS: Bright House Networks has added another local station to the lineup of high-definition TV on its Tampa Bay area cable system. The HDTV version of WTSP (CBS) will be on Channel 610. It joins WEDU (PBS), WFTS (ABC) and WTVT (Fox). The cable company is still negotiating with WFLA-TV (NBC). Bright House also has Discovery, HBO and Showtime available in HDTV, and last week announced that it would offer three additional high-definition premium channel packages.
RIO BRAVOS SHUTTERED: Chevys Inc., the Emeryville, Calif., operator of Rio Bravo Fresh Mex restaurants, has closed down its three remaining Tampa Bay area locations. The move comes just days after a deal to purchase the troubled restaurant company fell through. Consolidated Restaurant Operations Inc. of Dallas, whose chains include El Chico Cafe and Spaghetti Warehouse, announced Sept. 26 that it was backing out of plans to purchase Chevys' chains from J.W. Childs Associates of Boston. Chevys closed a fourth Rio Bravo restaurant, on N Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa, in July and sold it to Al Dente LLC, a Tampa franchiser that will open a Johnny Carino's Country Italian restaurant on that site in January. Al Dente managing partner Franklin Carson said it will be the group's third Johnny Carino's in the Tampa Bay/Sarasota area.
GARDEN FRESH TAKEN PRIVATE: Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp. said Tuesday it has agreed to be taken private by an affiliate of investment firm Fairmont Capital Inc. in a deal valued at roughly $98-million. Garden Fresh operates 97 salad buffet restaurants named Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes in 15 states, including locations in Largo, Palm Harbor, Tampa, Carrollwood and Brandon. It had revenue of $214.3 million for the year ended Sept. 30, 2002. Under the agreement, Fairmont will pay $16.35 in cash per Garden Fresh share.
INTERNET SECURITY CHIEF INDICTED: The head of an Internet security company who claimed to have found dangerous loopholes in U.S. military computers pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he hacked into government networks for financial gain. Brett Edward O'Keefe, 36, was arrested and indicted Monday on six counts of conspiracy. The indictment accuses O'Keefe of sharing military files with news media to generate favorable publicity for his company, ForensicTec Solutions Inc.
PRUDENTIAL PAYS COUPLE: A St. Pete Beach couple won damages from Prudential Securities because the brokerage firm failed to sell their stock in Vision Twenty-One when they tried to take advantage of a spike in the price four years ago. An arbitration panel for the National Association of Securities Dealers ordered Prudential to pay Paul and April Smith compensatory damages of $236,741 plus attorney's fees and costs. Their lawyer, Robert Persante, said the Smiths received the stock when they sold several optometric practices to the eyecare chain. The stock traded for as much as $10 a share during the summer of 1999 on rumors of a possible sale, but their Prudential broker told them they could not sell. They later sold the stock for $1 a share. The panel found Prudential liable for failure to supervise the broker as well as for fraud and material omissions in the sale of other stock Mrs. Smith bought for her retirement account. Prudential declined to comment. Formerly with headquarters in Largo, Vision Twenty-One moved to Baltimore. Its stock has been delisted.
CNL BUYS SENIORS HOUSING: CNL Retirement Properties, an Orlando real estate investment company in the seniors housing industry, said it has acquired all 14 seniors communities in Marriott International's portfolio for $184-million. Sunrise Senior Living will continue to operate the communities, which include Brighton Gardens of Tampa on N Dale Mabry Highway. CNL's acquisition involves 1,603 units - 1,112 assisted living, 380 special care (dementia) and 111 skilled nursing - in 10 states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina and Ohio.
