Business & Finance

PricewaterhouseCoopers is being sued by audit client Amerco Inc., the parent of U-Haul International, the truck- and trailer-rental company, The Wall Street Journal reported. The suit, filed Friday in federal court in Arizona, accuses the accounting giant of advising Amerco to engage in questionable practices that have drawn scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission, sending share prices tumbling, and pushing it toward possible bankruptcy. Amerco is based in Reno, Nev.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and the union representing its 16,000 steelworkers agreed to extend contract talks after the current agreement expired Saturday. A spokesman for the company said negotiations are "particularly difficult" due to Goodyear's recently reported $1.1 billion loss for 2002. The United Steelworkers of America reportedly wants a say in restructuring the Akron, Ohio, company and is looking for bargaining leverage with rival tiremakers such as Bridgestone-Firestone and Michelin.

A merger that would create the world's sixth-largest oil producer was being negotiated by two Russian companies, Yukos and Sibneft, The Wall Street Journal reported. Citing sources close to the situation, it said word of a deal could be forthcoming by midweek. Yukos and Sibneft together would have a capitalization of about $35 billion and the capacity to pump 2.2 million barrels of crude a day, putting them slightly behind TotalFinaElf of France, the No. 5 producer.