Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
UNITED ASKS FOR MORE TIME: United Airlines said Friday it won't be ready to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy this summer as planned, citing lingering uncertainties about its financing, and targeted fall as "more realistic." The world's second-largest airline asked a bankruptcy judge late Friday afternoon to extend by three months the period of exclusivity in which it alone can file a reorganization plan - although there is no imminent threat of an outside bidder taking over the airline. That would give it until Sept. 30, although additional extensions are possible.
AIRLINES TRY PRICE INCREASE: Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines raised round-trip fares on certain flights by as much as $40, blaming record high fuel prices. Northwest Airlines added the increase on most of its discounted leisure fares. Fares rose $10 each way on flights less than 1,000 miles and $20 each way on longer ones. The Continental and Delta increases apply to first-class and unrestricted fares, and some discounted fares in the United States and between the United States and Canada. American, United, America West and US Airways said they haven't matched the increases.
MAYTAG CUTS 1,100 SALARIES: Maytag Corp. announced Friday it is cutting its salaried work force by 20 percent, or 1,100 jobs, as part of a restructuring and lowered its earnings expectations, citing lower sales and higher materials costs. Maytag shares closed down more than 7 percent. The Newton, Mass., appliancemaker will consolidate its Hoover, Maytag Appliances and headquarters divisions into what it said is a "one-company" approach, designed to improve speed and competitiveness. Maytag spokeswoman Lynne Dragomier said the reduction in force will come in North Canton, Ohio, and Newton.
SPRINT TO CLOSE CALL CENTER: Sprint Corp. intends to close its call center in Bolingbrook, Ill., Aug. 3 and eliminate about 1,000 jobs, the telecommunications company said Friday. Employees were notified of the closure earlier. The company said the work will be spread among its seven remaining U.S. call centers. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said the state would try to save the center and the jobs. If the effort fails, he said, the state will assist the laid-off workers as they look for new jobs. Sprint employs about 65,000 people. It has cut more than 22,000 jobs in the past two years.
KUMAR LEAVES COMPUTER ASSOCIATES: Sanjay Kumar, who stayed on as Computer Associates International Inc.'s chief software architect after an accounting scandal forced him from the CEO and chairman jobs, left the company Friday. Kumar left the top jobs in April, tainted by an accounting debacle that has produced four guilty pleas from top executives. Days later, the company restated its earnings from 2000 and 2001 to reflect $2.2-billion in improperly booked revenue. "I understood that my stepping down as chairman and CEO represented a break with the past, but I have reluctantly concluded that as long as I hold any position, focus on past issues and my current role will continue," Kumar said Friday.
KMART SELLS STORES TO HOME DEPOT: Kmart will sell as many as 24 stores to Home Depot for up to $365-million, the discount retailer announced Friday. The exact number of stores, their locations and the final purchase price will be determined in the next 60 days. Kmart emerged from bankruptcy in 2003 with about 1,500 stores - 600 fewer than before. The discounter has posted a profit in the two most recent quarters and won praise for its financial turnaround. But sales have continued to drop.
DRUGMAKER LEAVES MIAMI FOR N.J.: A Miami drug company plans to relocate its corporate headquarters and expanded research facilities to New Jersey. Kos Pharmaceuticals will employ 222 people in Cranbury, N.J. The company said the move would occur by the end of the year. Its manufacturing and quality assurance operations are in Edison, N.J. "We believe that not only is Cranbury a convenient location with respect to our Edison manufacturing facility, but is in the center of a resource-rich environment of pharmaceutical talent for recruiting purposes," CEO Adrian Adams said.
SCRUSHY WANTS MORE ROOM: Fired HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy is appealing a judge's decision that barred him from unrestricted travel to Alabama's coastal counties, where prosecutors contend he could flee the country while awaiting trial. The defense said the government was being unreasonable with its claim that Scrushy - free on $10-million bond and with a fortune worth far more - was a flight risk. Scrushy is awaiting trial on charges he made millions from a conspiracy to inflate HealthSouth's earnings. Scrushy's trial is set for Sept. 27 or, if a delay is needed, Jan. 10.
OIL FUTURES DROP TO $38.49: Crude oil futures settled Friday at their lowest levels in a month on the New York Mercantile Exchange in further reaction to OPEC's quota increase and recovering U.S. inventories. Crude prices have now corrected by 9.2 percent over the past three sessions. July futures settled at $38.49, down 79 cents a barrel. The 2 percent correction in crude was dwarfed by a 5.75 cent or nearly 4.5 percent drop in unleaded gasoline futures to $1.178 a gallon, a cumulative decline of nearly 13 percent since Tuesday.