Timber giant Weyerhaeuser Co. reported a loss for the fourth quarter Wednesday due to a one-time charge for closing three plants. The chief executive said the company was facing the worst industry conditions in a quarter-century. For the quarter that ended Dec. 30, Weyerhaeuser had a net loss of $15 million, or 7 cents a share, compared with earnings of $194 million, or 88 cents a share, in the fourth quarter of 2000.
Enron’s lead outside auditor will defy a subpoena and refuse to testify before Congress today about his role in the destruction of financial documents, his lawyer said. With a House panel nonetheless compelling the Arthur Andersen auditor, David Duncan, to appear at its hearing, Congress’ public inquiry into the shredding of documents is headed for a dramatic opening. The House Energy and Commerce Committee served Duncan with a subpoena on Wednesday. But one of his attorneys, Robert Giuffra, told the committee in a letter that Duncan “will rely on his constitutional right not to testify” unless the panel grants him immunity.
Forty years after Samuel Moore Walton opened the first Wal-Mart Discount City store in Rogers, Ark., the 4,150-store global retail chain that now sells everything from children’s clothing to hunting equipment is poised to become the world’s largest company. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is on pace to record more than $220 billion in revenue for the 2001 fiscal year and dethrone oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. from the top of Fortune magazine’s annual list of the country’s and the world’s biggest corporations.
Merrill Lynch &Co., the nation’s largest brokerage, reported a $1.3 billion loss for the fourth quarter Wednesday largely because of a previously announced charge to pay for a cost-cutting plan that sliced 9,000 jobs from the company payroll. The loss translated to $1.51 a share for the last three months of 2001, compared with a profit of 93 cents a share, or $877 million, for the same period a year earlier, the company said. Excluding the charge for the job cuts, earnings were $461 million, or 48 cents a share, meeting analysts’ expectations.
EverTrust Financial Group reported its third-quarter financial results on Tuesday. A headline on a story in Wednesday’s paper incorrectly characterized the time period. In addition, the banking group wrote off $157,000 in bad loans during the quarter, up from $55,000 a year ago. The total was incorrectly reported.
From Herald news services
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