BUSINESS BRIEFS
Banks, investment firms borrowing more from Fed
Advertiser Staff and News Services
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve boosted its lending to commercial banks and investment firms over the past week, indicating that a severe credit crisis was still squeezing the financial system.
The Fed released a report yesterday saying commercial banks averaged $93.6 billion in daily borrowing for the week ending Wednesday. That was up from an average of $91.6 billion for the week ending Nov. 19.
The report also said investment firms borrowed an average of $52.4 billion from the Fed's emergency loan program over the week ending Wednesday, up from an average of $50.2 billion the previous week.
EMPLOYEES SHARE $6.6 MILLION BONUS
WAUKEGAN, Ill. — Year-end bonuses are rare these days. But a family that founded a ball-bearing manufacturer in suburban Chicago is giving eye-popping bonuses this year.
A total of $6.6 million is being shared by just 230 employees.
Some workers at Waukegan-based Peer Bearing Co. couldn't believe their eyes when they opened checks for $10,000 and more. Amounts varied and were based on years of service.
Dave Tiderman said he thought the decimal point was in the wrong place when he saw his $35,000 check. He's an assistant product manager at the company, where he's worked his way up from the warehouse since 1985.
Peer Bearing was sold to a Swedish company earlier this year. Danny Spungen says his grandfather launched the company in 1941. He says it was a unanimous family decision to thank employees with the bonuses.
INVESTOR BOOSTS STAKE IN YAHOO
NEW YORK — In a move likely to fuel speculation over Yahoo Inc.'s search for a new chief executive, activist investor Carl Icahn has bought close to 7 million additional shares of the Internet company, according to regulatory filings.
Icahn, a billionaire hedge-fund manager who threatened to oust Yahoo's board during the summer after it rejected a deal with Microsoft Inc., snapped up about $67 million worth of shares over three days this week, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Icahn bought 6.8 million shares for an average of $9.92 each in three batches from Monday through Wednesday, bringing his total stake to 75.6 million, or nearly 5.5 percent of the company, according to the filing.
OIL OUTPUT CUTS STILL A POSSIBILITY
CAIRO, Egypt — OPEC oil ministers yesterday downplayed expectations of, but didn't dismiss outright, an immediate output cut as they faced a third test in as many months of their ability to engineer a rebound in oil prices.
The outcome of the hastily convened Cairo meeting, billed as a consultative gathering to assess the impact of earlier production cuts, likely hinges on the cartel's unity.
The diverging of opinion on cutting oil production now highlighted the difficulty of the task facing producers of almost 40 percent of the world's oil.
Meanwhile, gasoline prices continued their free fall and are now at levels not seen since Jan. 21, 2005. Pump prices fell a penny overnight to a national average of $1.835 for regular unleaded, according to auto club AAA.
ROYAL BANK GETS NEW OWNERSHIP
LONDON — The British government will take over Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC with a majority stake of almost 60 percent after the shareholders of the nation's second-largest bank shunned an emergency share issue.
The 20 billion pound ($31 billion) rescue takeover, the result of a plan announced last month, means that dividends on common shares will be scrapped and top executives' bonuses will be canceled. Chief Executive Fred Goodwin has resigned and Chairman Tom McKillop, who last week apologized to shareholders for the 85 percent fall in the bank's share value, has said he will retire next year.
