BUSINESS BRIEFS
Brewer will let go 1,400 workers
Associated Press
BRUSSELS, Belgium — Anheuser-Busch InBev announced yesterday it would cut some 1,400 U.S. jobs — or another 6 percent of its U.S. workforce — to help save the world's largest brewer at least $1.5 billion a year.
It said three-quarters of the jobs to disappear will go from Anheuser's North American headquarters in St. Louis, both at downtown offices and its Sunset Hills campus.
The job cuts go beyond plans Anheuser-Busch announced during the summer to streamline costs, before it agreed to be taken over by Belgium-based InBev.
DOW CHEMICAL CUTS 5,000 JOBS
NEW YORK — Dow Chemical Co. said yesterday it will slash 5,000 full-time jobs — about 11 percent of its total work- force — close 20 plants and sell several businesses to rein in costs amid the economic recession.
The company, one of the largest chemical makers in the world, expects the plan to save about $700 million per year by 2010. Dow also will temporarily idle 180 plants and prune 6,000 contractors from its payroll.
3M CO. LOWERS EARNINGS OUTLOOK
HARTFORD, Conn. — 3M Co., which makes everything from Post-It Notes to Scotch Tape, yesterday lowered its 2008 earnings outlook and forecast 2009 profit below Wall Street expectations, citing slowing revenue in the weakening economy.
3M also said it cut nearly 1,800 positions in the fourth quarter, mainly in the U.S., Western Europe and Japan. The cuts are expected to save $170 million in 2009, and are in addition to the 1,000 jobs eliminated in the third quarter ended Sept. 30.
OIL REBOUNDS ABOVE $43 A BARREL
SIOUX FALLS, S.D.— Oil prices rebounded from four-year lows and shot above $43 a barrel yesterday as OPEC floated the possibility of a "severe" production cut and several countries announced new measures to boost their economies.
Chakib Khelil, president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, said Saturday that the cartel could announce a "severe" reduction of output quotas at its next meeting on Dec. 17 in Algeria.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery gained $2.90 to settle at $43.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
DOWNTURN BOOSTS MCDONALD'S SALES
NEW YORK — Consumers hungry for cheap meals boosted worldwide sales at McDonald's Corp. locations by 7.7 percent in November, more proof of how the fast-food leader is thriving in a downturn that has eaten into sales of its competitors.
Even recession-weary consumers in the U.S. were enticed by the Golden Arches during the month. U.S. same-store sales — or sales at locations open at least a year — rose 4.5 percent from the same month a year earlier, the company said yesterday.
WHOLE FOODS FILES SUIT AGAINST FTC
PORTLAND, Ore. — Natural grocer Whole Foods filed a federal lawsuit yesterday against the Federal Trade Commission, claiming the regulator violated its due process rights in a dispute over its acquisition of rival Wild Oats.
Whole Foods Market Inc. bought Wild Oats Markets Inc. of Boulder, Colo. in 2007 for $565 million. But the FTC's antitrust challenge has left Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods' biggest acquisition in legal limbo ever since.
