Business & Finance

Polaroid Corp., the instant camera and filmmaker, filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code Friday. The widely expected move came as the company faces almost $1 billion in debt and struggles to keep pace with new digital technologies that have reshaped photography. Cambridge, Mass.-based Polaroid said three months ago that it would miss payments to bondholders and would explore options up to and including the sale of the company. To date, no buyer has come forward.

DaimlerChrysler will cut 2,700 jobs at its Freightliner truck unit and close three plants in Oregon and Canada, the company said Friday. Freightliner had announced layoffs of 7 percent of its workforce in June. The new cuts, which will result in a $330 million charge in the fourth quarter, amount to an additional 18 percent. The company is based in Portland, Ore.

Lufthansa will not be offered any financial help by the German government for losses due to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the US, a published report said. Citing sources familiar with the thinking in the government's Finance Ministry, the Börsen Zeitung said the airline wanted the government to cover at least a portion of its losses as well as the sharply increased cost of insurance premiums, but that subsidies were being ruled out. Another publication, Der Spiegel, reported that Lufthansa was planning a series of personnel and cost-cutting moves to try to prevent layoffs.