LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Our shared goal is to create lasting change so that anyone who comes looking for work at Baldor can be sure that discrimination will never be a factor in determining who gets the job.”
Hilda Solis, U.S. secretary of labor Article, 1D
Wal-Mart opens Colorado groceries
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has opened its first three Neighborhood Market stores in Colorado and two more are to open Friday.
All five stores are locations previously occupied by Albertsons grocery stores in the Denver area and were part of the Supervalu chain.
Bentonville-based Wal-Mart said the Denver stores range from 48,000 square feet to 57,000 square feet. The stores, which will be open 24 hours a day, will include full-time pharmacies.
The stores will employ about 400 part-time and full time employees.
As of April 30, Wal-Mart had 64 super centers, 15 Sam’s Clubs and five discount stores in Colorado.
Verizon to sell spectrum to T-Mobile
NEW YORK - Verizon Wireless on Monday said it has agreed to sell some wireless spectrum rights to TMobile USA and swap others, in a continuing quest to get regulators to approve a bigger spectrum deal it has worked out with a consortium of cable companies and another wireless carrier.
The deal with T-Mobile USA would improve the ability of both companies to offer fast wireless data services, Verizon said. T-Mobile, the fourth-largest U.S. wireless company, is particularly starved for spectrum compared to its larger competitors, and regulators are likely to favor a deal that would improve its position.
Neither T-Mobile nor Verizon said what T-Mobile would pay Verizon for the spectrum.
The deal is contingent on Verizon getting government approval for three deals to buy spectrum from cable companies and Leap Wireless for about $4 billion. Those deals were struck in November and December, but have met resistance from public-interest groups who say the cellphone company, already the nation’s largest, doesn’t need more spectrum and shouldn’t be cozying up to competitors such as the cable companies.
T-Mobile had also opposed the Verizon-cable deals, saying they would place an “excessive concentration” of spectrum in Verizon’s hands.
Fitch lowers Cyprus to ‘junk’ status
LONDON - U.S. ratings agency Fitch has downgraded Cyprus debt to “junk” status, prompted by the amount of rescue money that would be needed to bail out its banks, which are heavily exposed to the Greek economy.
It lowered the rating for the country - one of the smallest members of the 17-country group that uses the euro - by one notch to BB+ from BBB- on Monday and warned further downgrades were possible in coming months because of a possible worsening of the situation in Greece.
With the downgrade, Fitch joins the other major ratings agencies - Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s - in pushing Cyprus’ credit rating into “junk” territory.
Cyprus is scrambling to find about $2.26 billion - or about 10 percent of its gross domestic product - by a Saturday deadline to recapitalize its second largest lender, Cyprus Popular Bank. The lender is the most heavily exposed of the country’s banks to Greek government debt.
Cypriot officials have said they would seek foreign aid from fellow eurozone nations or from Russia, or a combination of the two. Commerce Minister Neoklis Sylikiotis told CyBC state TV during a trip to Beijing on Monday that the country could also obtain a bilateral loan from China, but didn’t disclose details.
Fitch estimates Cyprus will need another $5 billion to recapitalize its banking sector because of their Greek exposure and because of a rise in bad loans over the last year.
Microsoft to buy social-network firm
SAN FRANCISCO - Microsoft Corp. said Monday that it has agreed to buy Yammer, a social-networking firm geared to businesses, for $1.2 billion in cash.
Yammer allows companies to set up social-networking sites for their business needs. Employees can sign up for free, and businesses can pay for an upgrade to receive more advanced services. Yammer has 5 million corporate users, according to Microsoft.
The deal highlights the growing importance of cloud computing as well as social networking in the corporate market for information technology.
Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft, said he sees Yammer contributing to the company’s “growing portfolio of complementary cloud services.” There had been speculation about Microsoft’s interest in acquiring Yammer in the past few weeks.
Cloud computing allows businesses to access computing power through a network, instead of relying on in house data centers. Companies also have begun incorporating social-networking features to their networks, fueled by the popularity of sites like Facebook and LinkedIn.
Airlines to restore restroom oxygen
NEW YORK - Federal aviation officials will order airlines to put oxygen systems back in jet restrooms, reversing a decision last year to remove them because of fears that terrorists could use them to start a fire during flight.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday that restoring the oxygen systems over the next three years will “eliminate a hazard that could jeopardize flight safety.” The FAA used similar language to explain its 2011 order telling airlines to remove the systems.
The rule covers about 5,500 planes and will cost airlines $44.2 million to comply, the FAA estimates.
Supplemental oxygen systems on planes often use chemical reactions to produce oxygen for masks that passengers can use to breathe if the plane loses cabin pressure.
The FAA posted the new rule online and plans to publish it in the Federal Register today.
In February 2011, the FAA told airlines to drain or remove the oxygen systems. It publicly disclosed the order a month later. The FAA said notifying the public before the systems were disabled was “contrary to the public interest,” suggesting it feared tipping off terrorists to the possibility of using an oxygen system in an attack.
At the time, the FAA described the 2011 order as temporary but said it might take two to four years to devise new oxygen systems that weren’t vulnerable to tampering.
Business, Pages 24 on 06/26/2012