5/24/02
NII Holdings Inc., a unit of Nextel Communications Inc.,
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Friday in the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. The Reston, Va., company, formerly
known as Nextel International, also announced that it reached an
agreement in principle with its main creditors -- Motorola Inc.'s
Motorola Credit Corp, Nextel Communications and a consortium of
bondholders -- for a restructuring of its outstanding debt. The
restructuring would reduce NII's total indebtedness by about 80%,
to less than $500 million from $2.7 billion.
5/23/02
Bayer plans to cut a further 1,300 jobs from its pharmaceutical
operations as the German company continues to slash costs at the
ailing business.
5/23/02
Laden with debt, Dutch telecommunications company KPNQwest NV
filed for protection from its creditors, just hours after its board
resigned. The company, a data-services provider, said it decided
to apply for bankruptcy protection in a Dutch court after its main
shareholders -- Dutch telecommunications operator KPN NV and Qwest
Communications International Inc. of the U.S. -- signaled that they
would pull the plug on funding and the company's banks canceled
its line of credit.
5/23/02
IBM started sending out layoff notices to staff, including
some 1,000 workers in its server group, a labor group said. More
job cuts are expected.
5/23/02
Two Web sites owned and operated by short-seller Anthony Elgindy
ceased operations on Wednesday. An e-mail sent to subscribers of
www.anthonypacific.com said that the site and www.insidetruth.com
would go off the air at midnight EDT. Earlier in the day, Mr. Elgindy,
who also is known on the Internet as Anthony@Pacific, was arrested
and charged with a slew of securities-related offenses.
5/23/02
Minolta Co. said its group net loss widened almost tenfold
to $276.6 million for the business year ended March 31, due to a
drop in product prices amid stiff competition, as well as early
retirement costs and securities valuation losses. As part of efforts
to rationalize operations, Minolta offered early retirement this
month, to which 516 workers, or 13% of the parent workforce, responded.
5/22/02
A legal fight that has pitted file-swapping software companies
Kazaa BV and StreamCast Networks against big record labels
and movie studios is collapsing as the small companies run out of
funds.
5/22/02
Yahoo Inc. will withdraw from the Internet-auction business
throughout most of Europe, instead striking an agreement to promote
rival eBay Inc.'s market-leading auction sites in the region.
5/21/02
Furukawa Electric is considering closing or selling five
of the 10 optical-fiber plants it bought from Lucent last year and
will cut its work force in related divisions by 20% by year-end.
5/20/02
Metromedia Fiber Network Inc. and most of its domestic subsidiaries
filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S.
Bankruptcy Code. The White Plains, N.Y., company, which builds and
leases fiber-optic networks in metropolitan areas, said it reached
an agreement with its senior secured lenders that will enable it
to fund its operations and continue to operate without interruption.
