Business & Finance
Tyco International filed new charges against two former executives, suing to recover $40 million in profits from alleged insider stock trades. Ex-chief executive Dennis Kozlowski and former chief financial officer Mark Swartz already await trial on charges of defrauding the diverse conglomerate out of $600 million. Kozlowski also has been indicted in New York state for tax evasion.
Troubled Fiat's board of directors was meeting as the Monitor went to press, amid growing speculation that its top two executives will be asked to resign. The Financial Times reported that the Italian industrial giant was denying the speculation, but it also cited well-placed sources as saying otherwise. A similar report appeared in The Wall Street Journal. Bitter controversy has swirled around Fiat for months because of drastic restructuring plans for its money-losing auto division, which already has laid off 5,600 workers, with 2,500 more slated to go later.
Lockheed Martin's satellite and launch-vehicle operations will merge into a single, Denver-based unit with 16,000 workers, the giant defense contractor said. The consolidation is part of a three-year effort and will result in about 200 job losses, mostly through attrition, the company said.
A hostile takeover bid of $4.2 billion by expansion-minded Manulife Financial Corp. was rejected as too low by smaller Toronto rival Canada Life. But it caused an immediate 30 percent surge in the latter's share price, which, analysts said, likely would force Manulife into a higher follow-up offer. A Manulife-Canadian Life merger would result in the nation's largest insurance company and the fourth-largest in North America.
More than 1,000 workers at Cessna Aircraft's facility in Wichita, Kan., will receive layoff notices over the next two months, the small-plane builder said. Cessna, a subsidiary of Textron Inc., also cut 800 jobs in October. The new cuts will bring to more than 10,000 the number of employees laid off since the Sept. 11. 2001, terrorist attacks by Wichita's four main aerospace companies, Cessna, Boeing, Bombardier, and Raytheon Aircraft.