DAIMLER TO KEEP MISUBISHI STAKE: Automaker DaimlerChrysler will keep its 37 percent stake in Mitsubishi Motors despite its decision to cut off funding to its troubled Japanese partner, CEO Juergen Schrempp said as he reaffirmed Daimler's goal of a strong presence in Asia in a letter to company staff. Meanwhile, Yoichiro Okazaki, a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries director, was named president, CEO and chairman of Mitsubishi Motors on Friday. Okazaki refused to comment on reports of plant closures, job cuts or financing.
HOFFA ACCUSED OF BLOCKING INQUIRY: Edwin H. Stier, a former federal prosecutor hired by the Teamsters five years ago to run its internal anticorruption program, has accused union president James P. Hoffa of resisting his efforts to investigate allegations of organized crime activity. But Hoffa rejected the charges by Stier, who quit Thursday with his team of investigators, lawyers and advisers. Hoffa termed the allegations "reckless and false." Hoffa cited the more than 30 union locals put into trusteeship over corruption charges as examples of his commitment to fighting corruption.
JURY REJECTS SUIT AGAINST ALLSTATE: An Illinois jury decided Thursday that Allstate Insurance Co. should not have to pay $300-million for the drop in value of policyholders' vehicles damaged in accidents after already paying for repairs, a company spokesman said. Defense attorney H. Sinclair Kerr had argued that Allstate was obligated only to repair a vehicle to "substantially the same condition" it was in before the accident. The lawsuit covered 387,000 Allstate policyholders and vehicles damaged between June 1996 and February 2001. The jury deliberated less than four hours before rendering its verdict.
WEIRTON STEEL CREDITORS SETTLE: Weirton Steel Corp. struck a tentative settlement Friday with a group of creditors that have tried to stop the sale of the company to Ohio's International Steel Group. The settlement, which must be approved by Bankruptcy Judge L. Edward Friend II, clears the way for completion of the sale next week. Weirton Steel spokesman Gregg Warren said the amount the noteholders would receive would be revealed in court. Friend approved the $237.5-million deal with ISG on April 22 and refused to delay its completion past midnight Monday.
AUDITOR QUITS GLOBAL CROSSING: Shares of Global Crossing Ltd., the fiber optic network operator that exited bankruptcy in December, fell 29 percent after Grant Thornton LLP withdrew its audits for the past three years. Global Crossing shares tumbled $2.85 to $7.15 in Nasdaq trading. The stock has fallen 77 percent this year. Without audited financial results, the shares are likely to be delisted by Nasdaq, said Igor Volshteyn, an analyst at Tejas Securities. Global Crossing announced Tuesday it will restate 2003 results after underestimating some liabilities.
DELTA LOSES ITS HR CHIEF: Delta Air Lines announced the departure of another executive Friday; human resources chief Robert Coleman, who was in charge of cutting staffing costs after the Sept. 11 attacks, will retire in June. In March, Virgin USA hired Delta president Fred Reid to start a new budget carrier. In April, CFO Michele Burns said she was leaving Delta for the bankrupt energy supplier Mirant Corp. Delta also has lost its lead labor negotiator, Terry Erskine, who recently said he was retiring. Meanwhile, Delta said it had hired Michael Palumbo, an airline industry consultant in New York, to replace Burns as CFO starting May 11.
SEC MAY SUE PEPSICO UNITS: The Securities and Exchange Commission staff said it has recommended suing the Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay divisions of PepsiCo Inc. The SEC alleges that nonexecutive employees in the units signed documents in early 2001 from Kmart Holding Corp. acknowledging payments of nearly $6-million that Kmart allegedly used to improperly record revenue. Kmart said it cooperated with the SEC and the Justice Department and, in response to what was found, fired all Kmart employees it determined to be involved.
TUPPERWARE LAYS OFF 45 IN ORLANDO: Tupperware Corp. has laid off 45 Orlando workers whose jobs were moved to Cebu, the Philippines, in December. Officials of the plastic container manufacturer said then that the call center would work in conjunction with its Orlando center. Since then, the company has hired a total of 60 workers in the Philippines while laying off the 45 in Orlando, spokeswoman Jane Garrard said. The Orlando center now has 60 workers, and no additional layoffs are planned, Garrard said
GOOGLE LIGHTS UP SEC WEB SITE: Google Inc., which is planning the biggest Internet share sale, snarled the Web site of the nation's securities regulator. Moments after Google filed plans with the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $2.7-billion, activity on the SEC's site surged 10-fold, consuming the agency's entire capacity for Web traffic, said Corey Booth, the SEC's chief information officer. "When this thing hit, we immediately saw there was a problem. We diverted all of our bandwidth to Google and we were red-lining into the evening," "There's something to be said for Google."
EARNINGS
ChevronTexaco Corp.: Driven by soaring gasoline prices, ChevronTexaco 's first-quarter earnings climbed 33 percent, continuing the oil giant's recent run of gushing profits. Results outstripped analysts' estimates by 38 cents a share.
Procter & Gamble Co.: P&G said Friday that earnings rose 20 percent in its third quarter as brisk business in beauty care, health care and developing markets helped the consumer products giant continue its strong growth surge. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had predicted earnings of $1.08 a share.
Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Cos.: The beleaguered oil giant posted a 16 percent fall in quarterly net income on Thursday, however, last year's profit was inflated by more than $1-billion in nonrecurring gains. Shell tried to encourage investors by announcing a $2-billion buyback of shares.
Exxon Mobil Corp.: Exxon Mobil's first-quarter profits fell 23 percent from a year ago, when the company had a huge gain from the sale of its stake in a German pipeline company. But revenue rose 6 percent on higher oil prices, and the world's largest publicly traded oil company's profit beat Wall Street expectations.
Cigna Corp.: The health insurer said first-quarter profit plunged 67 percent because of charges for restructuring and an accounting change; however, the company raised its full-year earnings estimate for the second time this month.
