BUSINESS BRIEFS
GM temporarily shutting plants as it cuts output
Associated Press
NEW YORK — General Motors Corp. said yesterday it will temporarily close 20 factories across North America and make sweeping cuts to its vehicle production as it tries to adjust to dramatically weaker automobile demand.
GM said it will cut 250,000 vehicles from its production schedule for the first quarter of 2009, which includes a cut of 60,000 vehicles announced last week. Normal production would be around 750,000 cars and trucks for the quarter, spokesman Tony Sapienza said.
Many plants will be shut down for all of January, he said, and all told, the factories will be closed for 30 percent of the quarter.
"We're adjusting pretty dramatically," spokesman Chris Lee said.
The move affects most of GM's plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. During the shutdowns, employees will be temporarily laid off and receive a portion of their normal pay from the company. They can also apply for state unemployment benefits, Lee said.
OIL PRICES SINK, DESPITE RALLY
Oil prices rallied from a sharp drop yesterday as the president and the Treasury Department said they were prepared to act if needed to save the U.S. auto industry from collapse.
The price for a barrel of oil, however, finished lower on another round of poor economic news that showed consumers cutting back on spending for a record fifth straight month. Light, sweet crude fell $1.70 to settle at $46.28 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
FAILED FIRM'S ASSETS IN QUESTION
NEW YORK — The implosion of a Wall Street firm whose owner is accused in a $50 billion swindle left regulators scrambling to seize control of its assets yesterday as dozens of investors worried that they had gone from rich to poor overnight.
The collapse of Bernard L. Madoff's company came just hours before his arrest Thursday on a single count of securities fraud. Madoff, who allegedly told his employees he was running a "giant Ponzi scheme," was freed on $10 million bail.
DELTA PLANS NEW ROUND OF BUYOUTS
ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines Inc., the world's biggest carrier, will offer voluntary severance payouts to a majority of the 75,000 employees at Delta and Northwest's mainline operations as part of a plan to cut an unspecified number of jobs, executives said yesterday.
Chief Executive Richard Anderson and President Ed Bastian said in a memo to employees that the program is similar to one earlier this year that Delta used to trim about 4,000 jobs. Northwest previously trimmed jobs of its own before being acquired by Delta on Oct. 29.
The executives said the cuts are necessary, as Delta will reduce systemwide capacity in 2009 by 6 percent to 8 percent because the weak economy has eroded demand for seats on airplanes.
SANDS CORP. LAYING OFF 200
LAS VEGAS — International casino owner Las Vegas Sands Corp. is cutting more than 200 workers from its Venetian and Palazzo casino-hotels on the Las Vegas Strip as part of an effort to save $100 million annually companywide.
Sands spokesman Ron Reese said yesterday the layoffs amount to about 2 percent of the two casinos' 10,000-strong workforce.
Reese said the company, which laid off 50 other workers three weeks ago, has not ruled out more cuts later. He would not say how much the cuts would save.
When the company suspended construction on casino projects around the world in November, about 11,000 workers lost their jobs, most in the Chinese island enclave of Macau. Yesterday's cuts affect only Las Vegas properties.
Sands shares have plummeted from a 52-week high of $120.24 to close yesterday at $5.94.
