Mall owner gets delay on $900 million debt Shopping-mall owner General Growth Properties Inc. is getting a two-week extension on $900 million in debt that had been scheduled to come due last week as the company works to stave off bankruptcy and negotiate longer-term extensions with lenders. The mortgages cover two malls in Las Vegas, the company said late Sunday. Chicago-based General Growth Properties, owner of Eden Prairie Center, is the nation's second-largest shopping mall owner. The firm has been hit hard by the deteriorating economy and problems at U.S. retailers.
Ford considering sale of Volvo Car Corp. Ford Motor Co. is considering selling Volvo Car Corp. as the U.S. automaker seeks to raise cash and weather a global automotive sales crisis. Goteborg, Sweden-based Volvo Cars, which Ford bought in 1999, has been struggling against a weak U.S. dollar and declining demand. Volvo sales through October are down more than 28 percent compared with the 2007 period, according to Autodata Corp. Ford said Monday it expects its strategic review of the Swedish luxury automaker will take several months. The move is one of several actions Ford is taking to strengthen its balance sheet amid what it called "severe economic instability worldwide."
Oil falls below $50; production to hold steady Oil prices tumbled below $50 a barrel Monday after OPEC decided not to cut production at an informal meeting in Cairo on Saturday and on more evidence the global economic slowdown will hurt demand for crude. Light, sweet crude for January delivery fell more than 9 percent, or $5.15, to settle at $49.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Top chicken producer files Chapter 11 Pilgrim's Pride Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday. The Pittsburg, Texas-based company, the nation's largest chicken producer, sought protection in a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, saying that as of Sept. 27 it had $3.75 billion in assets and $2.72 billion in debts. Pilgrim's Pride, which controls about 23 percent of the U.S. chicken market, will continue operating during the reorganization and will not liquidate its assets, spokesman Ray Atkinson said. It has been saddled by the debt from its $1.3 billion acquisition of rival Gold Kist Inc. in 2007
Morgan to cut 9,200 jobs at WaMu J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said Monday it will cut a total of 9,200 jobs at Washington Mutual, which it acquired Sept. 25 after Washington Mutual became the nation's largest bank to fail amid the ongoing credit crisis. Of the 9,200 jobs being eliminated as J.P. Morgan integrates Washington Mutual, 4,000 will be cut by the end of January, a spokesman said. The remaining 5,200 employees will remain through a transition period but lose their positions by the end of 2009.
Ryanair makes new bid for Aer Lingus stock Ryanair Holdings, Europe's biggest low-cost airline, made a new offer on Monday to buy the 70 percent of its Irish rival Aer Lingus that it did not already own, but analysts said the bid would probably encounter the same obstacles that stopped the previous one. Ryanair, based in Dublin, said its cash offer of 1.40 euros, or $1.78, for each share of Aer Lingus valued the company at 748 million euros, or about $950 million. Ryanair dropped its bid in December 2006 after European Union regulators signaled their intent to block a combination.
