Goodrich Corp. expects much-improved results for 2001 and 2002, the company said Thursday. The company, which has a major aircraft maintenance facility in Snohomish County, attributed the improvement to higher-than-expected global sales of aircraft spare parts and related services, and to aggressive cost cutting, which included layoffs and plant closures across the company. Full-year earnings-per-share for 2001 should exceed $2.80, the company said. That’s up from the company’s previous projection of $2.65 to $2.75 a share.
Microsoft Corp. announced Thursday it has appointed two compliance officers to help it meet legal obligations, including the proposed antitrust consent decree with the Justice Department and nine states. Odell Guyton, a former federal prosecutor, will serve as director of compliance for the software giant, overseeing a comprehensive education and compliance assurance program. The company named David Dadoun, a former antitrust enforcement lawyer with the Federal Trade Commission, to be internal antitrust compliance officer. He will administer Microsoft’s antitrust compliance program as required under the proposed consent decree.
Aetna Inc. is slashing 6,000 jobs, about 16 percent of its work force, as the nation’s largest health insurer struggles with rising medical costs and declining enrollment. It is the second December in a row that Aetna has announced sweeping changes and thousands of layoffs. Last year the company cut 5,000 positions.
Technology bellwether Oracle Corp. said its profit slid 12 percent as sales of its business software shriveled during its latest quarter, a period chief executive Larry Ellison called the company’s toughest in a decade. The Redwood Shores-based company reported Thursday that it earned $549.5 million, or 10 cents a share, in the three months ended Nov. 30, down from $622.8 million, or 11 cents per share, in the same period last year.
Weyerhaeuser Co. said Thursday it was making its final offer to rival Willamette Industries Inc. after a yearlong hostile takeover bid, boosting its cash bid to $55 per share. Federal Way-based Weyerhaeuser had been offering $50 per share in what had been a $5.5 billion deal for Willamette, which announced last week it had opened its own talks with Georgia-Pacific Corp.
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