AOL cutting 900 jobs, mostly in IndiaAOL Inc. is laying off a little more than 900 workers -- or about 20 percent of its workforce, a spokesman for AOL confirmed. The job cuts will involve about 200 workers at the company's media and technology operations in the U.S., and about 700 support workers in India. The spokesman said a portion of these workers -- about 300 -- will move to third-party companies that will still provide support to AOL. None of the layoffs is coming from the recently acquired Huffington Post, the company said.
Import surge pushes U.S. trade deficit higherThe U.S. trade deficit widened sharply in January to the highest level since the summer, as a surge in imports overwhelmed record levels of exports. The nation's trade deficit expanded 15.1 percent in January to $46.3 billion from a revised $40.3 billion in December, the Commerce Department said. This is the largest trade gap since June 2010 and also the biggest one-month worsening in the deficit since that same month. The widening of the deficit was much larger than expected.
China reports rare trade deficit for FebruaryChina's efforts to parry U.S. criticism that its currency is undervalued got a boost from a report showing the world's second-largest economy unexpectedly posted a $7.3 billion trade deficit. Exports rose 2.4 percent in February from a year before, the least since 2009, as Lunar New Year holidays disrupted shipments, and imports climbed 19.4 percent, customs bureau data showed. Economists cautioned that China's trade figures are skewed around the time of the New Year holiday.
General Motors' CFO abruptly steps downThe top financial executive who helped guide General Motors Co. back to profitability and then its return to being a publicly traded company stepped down suddenly Thursday. GM Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell, who worked at the automaker only since January 2010, said he had achieved his goals for the company and no longer wanted to be a top finance executive. GM's board passed over Liddell in its search for a new chief executive last year when Edward E. Whitacre Jr. quit, settling on Dan Akerson instead.
Blockbuster won't be forced to liquidateBankrupt Blockbuster Inc., once the world's largest movie-rental chain, can auction itself with a newly revised $290 million bid from hedge funds and avoid immediate liquidation, a judge ruled. Unsecured creditors, movie studios and prospective buyers of Blockbuster reached an accord on a revised sale agreement that removes the ability of prospective buyers to force the company into a Chapter 7 liquidation, said Stephen Karotkin, a lawyer for Blockbuster. "The parties have come to an accord and presented us with a more palatable situation," U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland in New York said.
Initial jobless claims rise but remain lowNew applications for state jobless benefits jumped by 26,000 last week, though they remained under the key 400,000 benchmark for fourth time in the past five weeks. The number of people filing initial requests for unemployment compensation rose to a seasonally adjusted 397,000 in the week ended March 5, the Labor Department reported. Even after the latest increase, claims over the past four weeks have averaged 392,500, keeping them near a three-year low. The four-week average is considered more accurate barometer of employment trends because it lessens week-to-week volatility in the data.
FROM NEWS SERVICES
