Polaroid Corp., known to generations of consumers for its instant cameras and film but buried beneath a mountain of debt, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday. The widely expected move comes three months after Cambridge, Mass.-based Polaroid said it would miss payments to bondholders and explore strategic options – including sale of the company – as it negotiated with creditors. No buyer stepped forward, and business slowed further after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, forcing the company into reorganization. Polaroid, founded by Edwin Land in 1937, has struggled to adapt to new digital technology as its core instant film business has slumped. The company could be sold off in its entirety or essentially stripped for parts under the supervision of a bankruptcy court.
DaimlerChrysler AG said Friday it will cut 2,700 jobs at its troubled Freightliner truck subsidiary and close three plants in a plan meant to return the division to profitability by 2003. One of the plants is a parts assembly operation in Portland, Ore. It is set to close by the middle of next year. The plan envisions annual savings of $850 million in materials, production costs and overhead, the U.S.-German automaker said. It plans to close plants in Woodstock, Ontario, and Kelowna, British Columbia, in the fourth quarter of this year.
Former Teamsters president Ron Carey was acquitted Friday in New York of federal charges he lied about the illegal diversion of union funds to his 1996 re-election campaign. Carey, 64, had been charged with perjury and other offenses for allegedly lying when he told investigators that he did not know about the scheme. Prosecutors said the union illegally arranged to give $885,000 to political action groups, which in turn arranged donations to the Carey campaign from wealthy individuals. Defense lawyers had portrayed Carey as a reformer who cut his own salary and eliminated perks such as private jets and limousines when he took over the presidency of the nation’s largest union in 1992.
For the ninth year in a row, Tree Top Inc. has turned a profit, even though a global glut of apples and juice concentrate drove down prices paid to growers. Tree Top, a 2,000-member cooperative of farmers in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, reported record sales of $297.5 million in the fiscal year that ended July 31, up from $289 million a year earlier. It also processed a record volume of fruit – 533,000 tons – in the 2000 harvest. Tree Top paid net proceeds to its growers of $33.3 million, including $18.80 a ton profit on apples and $7.52 a ton on pears. In the previous fiscal year, Tree Top paid $50.9 million to its growers. The co-op pays members the commercial market value for fruit as well as profits that it generates from processing juice, food ingredients and other products.
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