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Business Today

GM workers to kick in health care dollars

By wire services
Published November 12, 2005

General Motors Corp. got some relief from its spiraling health care costs as auto workers agreed to pay more of their health costs.

United Auto Workers - retirees couldn't vote - decided by a 61 percent majority to make both groups pay more for health care. GM lost more than $3-billion in the first nine months of this year. The vote could save the company $1-billion.

Marshall & Ilsley Corp. said Thursday it agreed to acquire Gold Banc Corp. for $700-million, in a move to tap into banking markets in Kansas, Missouri, Florida and Oklahoma. Gold Bank, as the corporation's banks are called, had $4.1-billion in assets as of the end of September. It also has 11 branches, soon to be 12, concentrated in the Tampa-Sarasota-Bradenton area. The transaction is expected to close in the spring.

DaimlerChrysler AG, the world's fifth-largest carmaker, sold its stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corp., ending a five-year attempt to gain a foothold in the booming Asian market. DaimlerChrysler will book a gain of about $585-million on the sale of its 12.42 percent stake, the company said Friday. DaimlerChrysler is selling assets to focus on increasing profit at the Mercedes Car Group and at Chrysler in the United states.

Stung by continuing criticism, the world's second-largest music label, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, promised Friday to temporarily suspend making music CDs with antipiracy technology that can leave computers vulnerable to hackers. Sony defended its right to prevent customers from illegally copying music but said it will halt manufacturing CDs with the "XCP" technology as a precautionary measure.

United Airlines, which for years has had little but bad news to report, on Friday had some good news: It will hire 2,000 flight attendants, the first time the airline has taken on such workers since the 9/11 terror attacks. The Chicago-based carrier, which has been operating under bankruptcy protection for three years, said it has completed a restructuring plan that it hopes will allow it to emerge from Chapter 11 in February. Part of the restructuring plan is more international flights, which require more inflight help.

A desktop computer stolen last month from one of the nation's three major credit bureaus contained Social Security numbers and other credit information for as many as 3,600 people, the company confirmed Friday. TransUnion LLC, which checks consumers' credit on behalf of banks and other lenders, acknowledged the security breach after it was first reported this week by the Privacy Times newsletter. The Chicago-based firm said consumers who may have been affected were notified last month following the early October burglary of a small TransUnion sales office in California.

[Last modified November 12, 2005, 00:54:17]