BUSINESS BRIEFS
Pernod Ricard buys Absolut maker for $8.34B
Advertiser Staff and News Services
STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Spirits group Pernod Ricard SA is adding Swedish flavor to a liquor cabinet stacked with Scotch whisky, French champagne and Cuban rum with its $8.34 billion purchase of the state-owned maker of Absolut vodka.
The company said yesterday it was delighted to add the premium vodka brand to its assortment of drinks, after the Swedish government accepted its bid for Absolut's parent company, Vin & Sprit.
The Swedish government celebrated the higher-than-expected price tag for Vin & Sprit, but investors were less exuberant, sending shares in France-based Pernod Ricard down 4.3 percent to $103.03 in Paris.
Sweden said it selected the Pernod Ricard bid on Sunday over three other offers, by U.S.-based Fortune Brands Inc., Bermuda-based Bacardi Ltd. and an investment group controlled by Sweden's Wallenberg family.
DRUG RESULTS SEND SHARES TUMBLING
NEW YORK — Shares of Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. fell to record lows yesterday, as analysts warned new clinical data would cause sales of their blockbuster cholesterol drug Vytorin to fall further.
The companies market Vytorin through a joint venture, but earlier this year, partial results from a clinical study showed that it was no more effective at limiting plaque buildup than Merck's Zocor, a drug that is already available in generic form. Full results of that study were released Sunday.
Vytorin is a combination of Zocor and Schering-Plough's drug Zetia.
Schering-Plough shares plunged as low as $14, touching their lowest levels since August 1996. Merck shares fell as low as $36.82, their lowest since June 2006.
Leading physicians are now recommending the use of older drugs called statins before putting patients on Vytorin. Many physicians had prescribed Vytorin in lieu of higher doses of statins because of what some said was an undue fear of side effects.
HUD'S JACKSON STEPS DOWN
WASHINGTON — HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, his tenure tarnished by allegations of political favoritism and a criminal investigation, announced his resignation yesterday amid the wreckage of the national housing crisis.
He leaves behind a trail of unanswered questions about whether he tilted the Department of Housing and Urban Development toward Republican contractors and cronies.
The move comes at a shaky time for the economy when soaring mortgage foreclosures imperil the nation's credit markets.
Some Congressional Democrats had pushed for Jackson to leave.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said HUD will be called on to work with Congress on assisting refinancing for borrowers faced with imminent foreclosure.
DELL SHUTS TEXAS PLANT, CUTS JOBS
NEW YORK — Dell says it will save as much as $3 billion over the next three years as it cuts costs and lays off more workers.
The world's No. 2 computer maker said yesterday it will close its desktop manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas.
Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Inc. is also reaffirming its plan — announced last year — to cut at least 8,800 jobs, or about 10 percent of its workforce. In the last nine months of fiscal 2008, the company cut 3,200 jobs.
The company plans a broad range of cost cuts in design, manufacturing and logistics, materials and operating expenses to stay competitive.
Dell is also reviewing alternatives for its financial services business, especially its consumer credit and its financing operation for small to medium business customers.
Shares of Dell rose 31 cents to close at $19.92. They added another 28 cents to $20.20 in aftermarket activity.
— Associated Press
