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Business Today

By TIMES WIRE
Published March 9, 2005

CHOICEPOINT MOVES TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SCREENING: Data broker ChoicePoint Inc., whose massive consumer information file was recently breached, has hired a top official at the government agency that oversees airport screening to review how the company screens its customers. The Alpharetta, Ga., company said Carol DiBattiste, deputy administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, has been appointed chief credentialing, compliance and privacy officer, effective May 2. She will lead an independent office in Washington that will oversee improvements in ChoicePoint's screening process and implementation of procedures to expedite the reporting of incidents.

FANNIE MAE AGREES TO NEW POLICIES: In a second accord with federal regulators, embattled Fannie Mae has agreed to set up new policies to prevent faulty accounting, split its chairman and CEO position into two jobs and create a new office to hear complaints from company employees. The biggest U.S. buyer of home mortgages announced an agreement with the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, which supervises Fannie Mae and has been investigating its accounting. The new agreement calls for the company to take a series of steps to correct inadequacies in internal controls, corporate governance and accounting systems, even as the investigation continues.

YUM, FARM WORKERS REACH AGREEMENT: Taco Bell will pay an extra penny for each pound of tomatoes it buys under an agreement with a group of Florida farm workers that had been protesting the fast-food chain for three years. The agreement also brings to an end the periodic protests by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a group of mostly Latino laborers from the tomato-growing region around Immokalee. The coalition ran a three-year campaign called the "Taco Bell Truth Tour," asking people to stay away from Taco Bell and restaurants run by its Louisville, Ky., parent, Yum! Brands Inc., until the company pressured tomato growers to provide better wages and living conditions for farm workers.

QUALCOMM NAMES CO-FOUNDER'S SON CEO: Wireless communications technology manufacturer Qualcomm Inc. said Paul E. Jacobs will succeed his father Irwin Mark Jacobs as chief executive July 1 under the company's management succession plan. Paul Jacobs, 42, also will join the board July 1. Irwin Jacobs, 71, who co-founded the company in 1968, will remain as board chairman. Steven Altman, 43, will succeed Tony Thornley as president. Thornley, 58, will retire July 1.

RETAILERS WANT TRUCKERS TO WORK LONGER: Wal-Mart and other retailers are lobbying Congress to extend the workday for truckers to 16 hours, something labor unions and safety advocates say would make roadways more dangerous for all drivers. Critics of the proposal accuse Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, of trying to fatten its profits by forcing truckers to spend more time waiting at the loading dock without getting paid. Current rules limit drivers' workdays to 14 hours, with only 11 consecutive hours of driving allowed, union leaders and safety advocates say.

BRITISH AIRWAYS CEO TO RESIGN: British Airways said chief executive Rod Eddington is stepping down this year and will be replaced by a former head of Irish carrier Aer Lingus who left that carrier amid a dispute with the government. The airline said onetime Aer Lingus CEO Willie Walsh will begin work as its chief executive-designate on May 3 and become CEO when Eddington retires in September after more than five years with the airline.

[Last modified March 9, 2005, 01:03:22]