Mattel Inc. tried to save face Friday with Chinese officials, taking the blame for the recent recalls of millions of Chinese-made toys as it strives to mend a strained relationship with the nation that makes most of its toys and fattens its profit. The world’s largest toy maker sent a top executive to personally apologize to China’s product safety chief, Li Changjang.
Private paper firm buys eight plants
A privately owned company that supplies paper to magazine and catalog publishers is buying the North American operations of one of the world’s largest makers of paper products for about $2.1 billion. NewPage Holding Corp., owned by private equity firm Cerberus Capital, hopes the deal announced Friday will give it a boost in the shrinking U.S. paper industry, which has been hurt by Chinese imports and increasing use of the Internet. NewPage is acquiring eight factories from Finland-based Stora Enso Oyj.
Oracle buyouts paying off big
Melding a hodgepodge of different software makers into a cohesive business is supposed to be difficult. But Oracle Corp. is making the task look easy as the Redwood Shores, Calif.-based company churns out one impressive quarter after another, nearly three years into a $25 billion shopping spree that is yielding bigger dividends than many skeptical software analysts and executives anticipated. The latest gains surfaced late Thursday when Oracle reported that fiscal first quarter software sales accelerated at the fastest clip in seven years. Propelled by the robust growth, Oracle earned $840 million, or 16 cents per share, for the three months ended Aug. 31. That represented a 25 percent improvement from the comparable period last year.
Home Depot weathers storm
The Home Depot Inc. doesn’t plan to make any broad-based job cuts or reduce the number of its more than 2,000 core retail stores in the face of a persistent housing slump that isn’t expected to improve anytime soon, Chief Executive Frank Blake said Friday. Blake said the company’s focus on customer service means more employees, not fewer, will be needed. Home Depot said earlier this week it was closing its 11 Landscape Supply stores.
Correction
Ross Bogue is a Boeing Co. vice president who serves as the general manager of the 747, 467 and 777 airplane programs and the Everett manufacturing site. A Friday story on Page A1 about Bogue’s comments on the plant’s 40 years in Everett incorrectly listed the jet programs that Bogue manages.
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