Daily Briefing

ADVERTISING

Super Bowl ads: FedEx sits out

Saying “times have changed,” FedEx Corp. announced it will not advertise during the Feb. 1 Super Bowl in Tampa. FedEx has run ads during the Super Bowl broadcast for the past 12 years and has had an advertising presence in 18 Super Bowls since 1989. In a posting on the company’s Web site, director of advertising Steve Pacheco said, “there is a time to justify such an ad spend and a time to step back.” Some Super Bowl ad slots go for as much as $3 million.

AUTOMOTIVE

GM’s oldest plant nears shutdown

The last SUV rolled off the production line at General Motors’ oldest plant in Janesville, Wis. The plant was built in 1918 for tractor production and converted to a Chevrolet plant in 1923. GM let go 1,200 employees when production ended at the southern Wisconsin plant.

Toyota president said to be leaving

Toyota Motor Corp. President Katsuaki Watanabe, 66, may step down next year and be succeeded by Akio Toyoda, 52, grandson of the founder of Asia’s largest automaker, people familiar with the matter said. Watanabe’s exit is intended in part to take responsibility for Toyota’s forecast this week for a 150 billion yen ($1.7 billion) operating loss for the year ending in March, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because a decision hasn’t been announced.

AVIATION

Southwest seeks OK for codeshare

Southwest Airlines Co. has taken another regulatory step in its effort to start a codeshare agreement with Canadian carrier WestJet. Southwest said it had submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Transportation to acquire the required international route authority. The application for a certificate to provide foreign air transportation is needed before Dallas-based Southwest Airlines can fully implement the previously announced codeshare deal. Codesharing allows airlines to sell seats on each other’s flights. Southwest has formed a similar alliance with Volaris in Mexico.

Continental drops seasonal route

Continental Airlines Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. carrier, will drop seasonal service linking its hub in Cleveland with London’s Gatwick airport and with Paris amid a worsening recession. Daily nonstop service will be added between Cleveland and London’s Heathrow airport from May through September, the Houston-based airline also said today in a statement. Heathrow flights became possible under U.S.-European Union “Open Skies” treaty, which eased restrictions at Europe’s busiest airport.

BANKING

CIT to receive $2.33 billion

Commercial financial firm CIT Group Inc. said it received preliminary approval to obtain $2.33 billion as part of the government’s $700 billion bank investment program. The approval comes just hours after the government approved CIT’s application to become a bank holding company. The change in structure to become a bank holding company was a prerequisite to obtaining the funds.

PNC, National City merger approved

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and National City shareholders approved a merger between the banks. The shareholders approved the merger at separate meetings in Pittsburgh and Cleveland, a largely symbolic gesture that sets the wheels in motion for the integration that is expected to be complete by late 2009. PNC is acquiring Cleveland-based National City for $5.6 billion with money it obtained through the government’s $700 billion bailout program.

American Express gets $3.39 billion

American Express says it received preliminary approval to receive $3.39 billion in capital as part of the government’s $700 billion bank investment program.

American Express became eligible for the program last month after changing its structure to a bank holding company.

The new cash gives American Express a stronger capital base amid the ongoing credit crisis, and as funding options have dwindled in recent months.

EARNINGS

Card company swings to loss

American Greetings swung to a third-quarter loss ($193.3 million, or $4.25 per share) as hefty charges, a decline in sales and a tough economy hurt quarterly results for the greeting card company.

Sales declined 6.5 percent to $454.1 million from $485.8 million.

American Greetings says it is unable to provide an earnings outlook for the rest of its fiscal year because of economic uncertainty.

FINANCIAL

Murdoch to help raise cash for debt

Germany’s biggest pay television operator, Premiere AG, said it will raise cash and refinance its debt with the help of its largest shareholder, the global media company run by Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. News Corp. will stand behind two rights issues, worth a combined euro450 million ($628 million), allowing Premiere to renegotiate its debt —- currently about euro320 million —- with loans of euro525 million, the company said in a statement.

Freddie Mac portfolio expands

Freddie Mac said its portfolio of home loans and mortgage bonds grew at an annualized rate of 66 percent last month, now that federal regulators are running the government-sponsored mortgage-finance company. The portfolio rose by $41.7 billion in November to $805.4 billion as Freddie Mac bought more assets, the McLean, Va.-based company said in its monthly volume summary.

ProLogis sells Chinese unit

Industrial real estate investment trust ProLogis is selling its Chinese operations and the remaining stake in its Japanese funds to a Singapore government-owned real estate company in a $1.3 billion cash deal. The Denver-based company said it expects the transaction for the Chinese properties will close in January. ProLogis expects to lose about 4 percent to 6 percent of the book value of the assets. The company expects its order backlog will be cut by about $1 billion, including costs to complete projects in China.

LAYOFFS

Sands cuts 500 casino workers

Las Vegas Sands Corp. says it has cut 500 casino workers at its Venetian Macao casino in China and wants to trim 1,000 others’ schedules. The Las Vegas-based casino operator said none of the laid off employees lived in the Chinese gambling enclave and 100 were managers. The cuts represent 2 percent of Sands’ Macau employees.

LEGAL

Spill costs Exxon $6.1 million

A subsidiary of ExxonMobil has agreed to plead guilty to a criminal charge and pay $6.1 million for a 15,000 gallon diesel fuel spill at an Everett oil terminal in January 2006. Prosecutors said that ExxonMobil Pipeline Co., based in Houston, was charged with a criminal violation of the federal Clean Water Act in connection with the spill into the Mystic River. Under the plea agreement, the Everett terminal also will be overseen by a court-appointed monitor.

Fatal mine fire costs $4.2 million

U.S. Attorney Charles Miller says Massey Energy will pay $4.2 million in civil and criminal penalties stemming from a January 2006 fire that killed two workers at a West Virginia mine. Tuesday’s announcement follows an investigation by Miller’s office and the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration into a conveyor belt fire at the Aracoma Alma No. 1 mine that killed 33-year-old Don Bragg and 47-year-old Ellery Elvis Hatfield. Miller says Massey subsidiary Aracoma Coal Co. has agreed to plead guilty to a 10-count information charging it with willful violations of mandatory safety requirements.

MEDIA

GateHouse Media sues N.Y. Times Co.

GateHouse Media Inc. filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the parent company of The Boston Globe, claiming the newspaper’s new community Web sites use online material from GateHouse without permission. In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Boston against The New York Times Co., GateHouse claimed Boston.com violated copyright and trademark laws by “reproducing, displaying and distributing” its newspaper headlines and original material published on its “Wicked Local” Web sites.

Newspapers to share content

In a sign of further trouble in the newspaper industry, the Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun say they will share some stories, photos and news content starting next year. The Washington Post Co. and The Baltimore Sun say they will share some of their daily Maryland news and sports and will tap into stories distributed by the LAT-WP News Service. Exclusive stories and articles on competitive topics, such as Maryland state government, typically won’t be shared.

PHARMACEUTICAL

Companies target new treatment

GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Archemix Corp. said they will work together to develop drugs for inflammatory diseases in a deal that could be worth as much as $1.4 billion. The pharmaceutical companies said they will be studying aptamers, which bind to disease-causing proteins to stop them from having an effect. They hope to develop as many as seven new drugs to treat inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease, the companies said in a joint news release.

RETAIL

Fisher-Price sorry for adult hotline

Some customers calling the consumer-relations hotline on a Fisher-Price DVD are getting an invitation for relations of a different sort. Mattel Inc.’s Fisher-Price unit apologized for including an incorrect telephone number for customer service on the back of a DVD sleeve that is actually the number for an adults-only hotline. The company’s Digital Arts & Crafts Studio DVD had a consumer relations hotline printed twice on its sleeve, once correctly and once incorrectly.

Wal-Mart settles labor lawsuits

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. says it has settled 63 wage and hour abuse lawsuits against the company. The discount retailer said the total amount to be paid depends on the amount of claims submitted by class members, but is expected to range between $352 and $640 million. The company’s leadership says many of the lawsuits were filed years ago and the allegations are not representative of the company it is today. As part of the settlement, Wal-Mart agrees to continue to use various electronic systems and other measures to ensure compliance with wage and hour policies and law. Wal-Mart has more than 1.4 million employees.

Holiday forecast lowered amid ills

Purchases at U.S. retailers fell last week and a trade group lowered its holiday forecast as recession fears deterred shoppers from spending in the closing days of what may be the worst Christmas sales season in four decades. Sales at stores open at least a year declined 0.6 percent in the seven days through Dec. 20 from a year earlier, the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said in a joint statement. November-December sales may fall as much as 2 percent, according to the ICSC, which had previously projected a drop of as much as 1 percent.

TOURISM

Wynn’s Encore opens in Vegas

Wynn Resorts Ltd. CEO Steve Wynn says his swanky $2.3 billion Encore casino —- which opened in an economy that’s battering casino, travel and other consumer companies —- is about perfecting the basics. “Better service, nicer rooms, better lighting,” Wynn told. “Themes that are corny get old quickly, but real and wonderful environments with great service are timeless.” Wynn will have to keep prices low to keep people booking its 2,034 suites.

WINE

Foley snaps up Sebastiani

After more than a century in business, a family-owned California winery has sold itself to a southern California conglomerate as consolidation swirls in wine country. Foley Wine Group has purchased Sebastiani Vineyards for an undisclosed sum. The sale includes the Sebastiani winery, a Sebastiani tasting room and event center in downtown Sonoma, Calif., and 100 acres of vineyards.