BUSINESS BRIEFS
$700B fund may see more scrutiny and broader goals
Associated Press
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WASHINGTON — Eager to shift the course of the government's financial sector bailout fund, President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats want to apply greater scrutiny and a more defined mission to the beleaguered $700 billion rescue program.
The House could act as early as next week on a new tack for the Troubled Asset Relief Program that would set tougher conditions on recipients of the money, including limits on executive pay, and require the Treasury Department to use some of the money to reduce mortgage foreclosures.
At the same time, Obama's selection for treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, is broadening the program's goals, aiming to unfreeze credit for homeowners, consumers, small businesses and local governments.
RUBIN RESIGNS TOP CITIGROUP POST
NEW YORK — Citigroup said yesterday that board member Robert Rubin, the former U.S. Treasury secretary, has resigned as a senior adviser to the big financial services company.Rubin, 70, will continue to serve as a director until his term expires at the next annual meeting in the spring, Citigroup said.
The veteran of Wall Street and Washington has drawn criticism for his inability to prevent the bank's recent problems that sent shares plunging and drove it to seek federal assistance.
BOEING CUTTING WORKFORCE BY 3%
PITTSBURGH — Boeing Co., the world's second-largest airplane maker, plans to cut about 3 percent of its workforce as a weakening global economy lowers demand for jetliners.The Chicago-based company said yesterday it expects to cut about 4,500 positions from its passenger jet business, which has factories in the Seattle area. Many of the cuts will be in areas not directly associated with aircraft production.
The news comes a day after Boeing reported a 15 percent decline in passenger jet deliveries for 2008, when it faced an eight-week strike by union workers and shrinking airline demand.
The lower deliveries ensured Boeing's archrival, Europe's Airbus, retained its rank as the world's top plane maker.
GMAC CHAIRMAN MERKIN RESIGNS
NEW YORK — GMAC Financial Services LLC, the financing arm of automaker General Motors Corp., yesterday said Chairman J. Ezra Merkin is stepping down effective immediately, as it names a new board of directors.GMAC is naming the new board under terms of its approval by the Federal Reserve last week to become a bank holding company.
Although Merkin stepped down yesterday, GMAC said it has until March 24 to name a new board.
GMAC spokeswoman Gina Proia would not say why Merkin was stepping down now.
Lenard Tessler, managing director of private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, a partial owner of GMAC, will replace Merkin in the interim, the company said.
SEATTLE PAPER MAY GO OUT OF BUSINESS
SEATTLE — Hearst Corp. put Seattle's oldest newspaper, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, up for sale yesterday, saying that if it can't find a buyer in the next 60 days, the paper will close or continue to exist only on the Internet.Hearst Newspaper Division President Steve Swartz broke the news in a meeting with newspaper employees.
The statement said Hearst is not considering buying The Seattle Times, the city's other daily paper.
Hearst has owned the P-I since 1921, and the paper has had operating losses since 2000, including $14 million last year.
Chris Grygiel, an assistant city editor, said neither Swartz nor P-I executives took questions at the meeting.
