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Q3 loss to usher in job cuts and plant closings at Ford
Washington: Reporting a US$1.2bn third-quarter loss in its core North American division has led Ford to warn of another overhaul in January with "top-to-bottom" job cuts and "significant" plant closings.

Ford's announcement comes days after General Motors (GM) announced its own restructuring plans. The two auto companies are now undertaking their largest overhauls in years, aiming to become smaller, lower-cost producers with fewer plants and fewer workers.

William Clay Ford Jr., Ford's chairman and chief executive, said the changes gripping the industry are painful but necessary.

Executives at Ford and GM said the collapse of the market for large sport-utility vehicles has hastened the pace of the overhaul. GM and Ford have steadily lost market share in the United States because of escalating global competition. They are stuck with high overhead costs from too many plants and too many workers for the number of cars they sell, analysts say.

Ford's condition isn't as bad as at GM, however, and the company has earned US$1.87bn this year. It reiterated its forecast for a profitable year.
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Warren Buffett's biography rights sold for US$7mn
New York: Bantam Dell Books, a division of Random House, will soon publish the official biography of legendary stock market guru and multi-billionaire Warren Buffet.

The publisher has reportedly paid $7mn for the deal, one of the highest book advances on record, to author Alice Schroeder, a Wall Street analyst, who will have the cooperation of Buffett.

The book will be titled "The Snowball: How Warren Buffett Collected Friends, Wisdom and Wealth".
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China to allow increased foreign funds participation in institutions
Beijing: China will soon allow social and foreign funds to increase shareholding in Chinese financial institutions and will relax the current share proportion limit for them.

An official of the China's central bank said China wants to encourage social and foreign funds to participate in the regrouping and restructuring of small and medium-sized financial institutions.

On the basis of enhanced financial supervision, China will make full use of financial shareholding companies and develop various kinds of financial services the official said.
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BSkyB buys Easynet
London: Satellite broadcaster BSkyB has agreed to buy Easynet for GBP211mn in order to expand into the country's fast-growing broadband Internet market and take on its cable rivals.

The deal will allow BSkyB to offer "triple-play" broadband, television and telephony services to customers, putting it in head-to-head competition with merging cable companies NTL and Telewest, as well as BT Group.

The deal is the boldest strategic move so far by BSkyB's Chief Executive James Murdoch. Since he arrived two years ago, BSkyB has focussed on adding new subscribers to reach its goal of 10 million by 2010 from nearly 8 million now.

BSkyB has said it plans to move to a hybrid broadband and satellite distribution model. Broadband has an advantage over satellite in delivering customised content like video-on-demand.

The company said Easynet would give it an established presence in the broadband market and an attractive source of new revenues and new customers. Easynet mainly does business with corporations and also owns the fledgling UK Online consumer Internet access business.
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