Two high-tech companies in Vancouver, Wash., are scaling back operations and shifting production overseas, a move that will leave about 550 people out of jobs. Electronics manufacturer Matsushita Kotobuki Electronics Industries of America laid off 202 workers, about 44 percent of its work force, on Thursday. The company plans to shift half of its production to Indonesia. SEH America announced plans Wednesday to consolidate operations, eliminating 350 jobs by July. SEH, which makes silicon wafers used in microchips, will send work to a plant in Malaysia to save money.
The U.S. economy, battered by the terrorist attacks, turned in its worst performance in a decade during the third quarter, shrinking at an annual rate of 1.1 percent. Many economists expect an even steeper drop in the current quarter but are hopeful for a turnaround next year. The revised reading on Gross Domestic Product released by the Commerce Department Friday showed the economy was much weaker in the July-September quarter than the 0.4 percent rate of decline estimated a month ago. The 1.1 percent drop in GDP – the total output of goods and services in the United States – followed a barely discernible growth rate of 0.3 percent in the second quarter and illustrated just how quickly and dramatically the economy sank after the deadliest attack in U.S. history.
Rothmans Inc. said Friday it had boosted its takeover offer for the small U.S. cigarette maker Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co., which previously indicated support for a competing bid from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. Rothmans, a Toronto-based tobacco company, said its revised bid of cash, stock and other securities is worth about $353.7 million, up from its initial offer worth about $275 million. It boosted the cash portion of its bid by $57 million to $162 million, and said the appreciation in its stock price had boosted the value of the stock being offered for the privately held Santa Fe Natural, which is based in Santa Fe, N.M.
After 23 years of consistent growth, Home Depot hopes to plot a more focused course for making each store more profitable by better tailoring them to specific markets and offering new services for homeowners. The company’s president and chief executive, Robert Nardelli, led his first conference for Wall Street analysts on Friday, outlining a strategy that relies on diversifying revenue through better performance of existing stores, new residential services and increased sales to professional contractors.
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