New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Monday pressed the nation’s eight biggest banks to reveal how much they plan to pay out in employee bonuses for 2009. Cuomo wants to know how the size of the banks’ bonus pool would have been affected if the banks hadn’t received a taxpayer rescue. Several banks earned huge profits in 2009, aided by billions in government bailout funds and a rebounding stock market. Cuomo said he was only asking for information and didn’t threaten legal action against the banks — Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, State Street and Wells Fargo. Cuomo asked the banks to provide bonus information by Feb. 8 in letters sent Monday.
Barnes &Noble plans to rent textbooks
Bookseller Barnes &Noble Inc. is launching a textbook rental program for college students, making it the newest entrant in a growing field. The new program, available though campus bookstores or the stores’ Web sites began as a pilot program in three of its 636 campus bookstores in the fall. It has now been expanded to 25 bookstores. Some college bookstores that will offer the program include Ohio State University, the University of Maryland, Borough of Manhattan Community College and University of South Carolina. Barnes &Noble said books will rent for 42.5 percent of their original price, so a $100 book would cost $42.50 to rent for the entire term. Textbooks can be rented at books stores or online, with orders shipped to a campus bookstore.
Too few take buyouts, so AOL will lay off 1,200
The struggling Internet company AOL will lay off up to 1,200 workers because it didn’t get enough volunteers to accept buyouts. AOL spokeswoman Tricia Primrose said Monday that only 1,100 volunteered to leave. That means it would need to shed up to 1,200 positions to reach its previously announced reduction target of up to 2,300, or about a third of its work force. Primrose said AOL would be laying off some employees in the U.S. on Monday, though most will occur Wednesday. AOL said in November it would take $200 million in charges for severance and restructuring-related costs. The cuts come as AOL separated from Time Warner Inc. last month.
Alcoa posts quarterly loss of $277 million
Alcoa reported a smaller net loss for the fourth quarter Monday, though revenue shrank with no improvement in its aerospace, commercial building and gas turbines businesses. The Pittsburgh-based company reported a net loss of $277 million, or 28 cents per share, compared with a loss of $1.19 billion, or $1.49 per share, during the same period last year. However, Alcoa said free cash flow turned positive for the first time since the second quarter of 2008. Analysts on Monday were looking for better sales from Alcoa Inc. Revenue fell from $5.68 billion to $5.43 billion.
From Herald news services
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