BUSINESS BRIEFS
Winning bidder can lunch with Warren Buffett
Advertiser Staff and News Services
OMAHA, Neb. — It's anyone's guess how high the bidding will go this year when the chance to have lunch with investor Warren Buffett is put up for sale.
The online bidding began at $25,000 last night. A year ago, two investors paid $650,100 for the chance to have lunch with the chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
The auction benefits the Glide Foundation, which provides social services to the poor and homeless in San Francisco.
The auction began at 1 p.m. Hawai'i time yesterday and continues until 1 p.m. Hawai'i time on Friday.
The winning bidder and up to seven friends will dine with Buffett at the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in New York City.
10% AT CITIGROUP MAY FACE LAYOFF
NEW YORK — Citigroup is preparing to fire thousands from its worldwide investment-banking division, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said the layoffs are part of a plan to cut about 10 percent of the staff of the 65,000-member investment-banking group.
Messages left with Citigroup spokesmen yesterday were not immediately returned. The Journal said the fired employees could be notified as early as today.
The New York-based global bank, along with much of Wall Street, is in the throes of recovering from bad investments on mortgages and leveraged loans that cut billions of dollars from its portfolio.
SAUDIS PLEDGE TO PRODUCE MORE OIL
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia yesterday promised to increase oil production as needed while Western countries agreed to improve the transparency and regulation of financial markets, signaling a readiness from oil-producing and oil-consuming nations to make concessions and work together to tackle runaway prices.
It was not immediately clear what effect yesterday's emergency meeting, called by the kingdom after oil reached nearly $140 a barrel this month, would have on prices. But analysts said the meeting succeeded in spreading responsibility among consumers and producers for bringing down oil prices, which had sparked riots in Europe and Asia and raised fears of a global recession.
Participants also agreed on the need to improve the transparency and regulation of financial markets. Saudi Arabia and other producer nations had blamed the billions of dollars of investments in oil as a hedge against the weakening dollar as a major reason for recent price spikes.
BRITAIN'S POOR MAY GET CASH AID
Prime Minister Gordon Brown today will offer Britain's poorest families cash incentives worth up to 200 pounds ($400) a year to take up government health and education support for their children.
The payments, available for those with children younger than 5 years old, will be made if parents take up services including play clubs, assistance with reading and vaccinations available at Sure Start centers, Brown will say in a speech in London today, according to excerpts released by his office.
The measures are part of Brown's effort to close a growing gap between the rich and the poor and to ensure that children from families with the lowest earnings still have chances to prepare for college.
IPHONE RIVAL CAN BE MONEY MAKER
High Tech Computer Corp. may rise more than 70 percent in the next year with its 3G phone, the Touch Diamond, that is considered as good as Apple Inc.'s iPhone, Barron's said, citing an unidentified hedge fund manager.
The smartphone, introduced in London in May, combines Research in Motion Ltd. Blackberry's professional features and the iPhone's touchscreen, Barron's said. The company also has operating systems partnerships with Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
