• Dealing with $13 billion in debt and declining revenues, media and sports conglomerate Tribune Co. filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday (Monday). The company – which owns the Chicago Cubs and newspapers The Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Baltimore Sun – was famously taken private last year by real estate mogul Sam Zell, The Associated Press reported.

• Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) said it will divest several business, close 20 facilities and cut about 5,000 jobs, or about 11% of its workforce. The announcement comes less than a week after rival DuPont Co. (DD) announced cutbacks that it said would save $700 million annually by 2010, Reuters reported.

• Morgan Stanley’s (MS) top executives – CEO John Mack and Co-Presidents Walid Chammah and James Gorman – won’t receive bonuses this year, Bloomberg reported. In addition, the company is lowering compensation for its operating committee 14 members by an average of 75%.

• Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) yesterday (Monday) urged Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. (MER) to reject its CEO John Thain’s request for a $10 million bonus since Merrill was the recipient of millions of taxpayer money, Dow Jones reported. “While American families struggle to keep their jobs and their homes, I question the chutzpah of asking for a $10 million taxpayer-subsidized bonus,” Reid said.

• After earlier assuring the public that no U.S. jobs would be jeopardized by a merger, Anheuser-Busch InBev NV announced yesterday (Monday) that it would cut 1,400 U.S. jobs — about 6% of its U.S. work force. The move is expected to help save the world’s largest brewer at least $1.5 billion a year.

• Brazil’s Mines and Energy Minister, Edison Lobao, said yesterday (Monday) that China wants to lend Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil’s state oil company, $10 billion to help develop massive new oil fields in deep water off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, The Associated Press reported.

• McDonald Corp.’s (MCD) global same-store sales rose 7.7% in November and U.S. sales climbed 4.5% the company said yesterday in a statement. “I think what you’re seeing is that McDonald’s has so far been relatively immune to the recession,” David Morris, senior analyst at consumer research firm Mintel told The Associated Press.

Source: Global Investing Roundups Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

• Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT) quarterly profit rose 2% from a year ago, the company said yesterday (Thursday) in a statement. The world’s largest software maker earned $4.37 billion, or 48 cents per share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30. Sales rose 9% to $15.1 billion.

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) is cutting 3,200 jobs, or 10% of its work force, as the firm struggles with the credit crisis and transitions into a holding company. The cuts add to more than 130,000 jobs eliminated in the financial industry since mid-2007, topping the 83,000 lost after the Internet bubble burst in 2001, Bloomberg reported.

• The Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) yesterday (Thursday) reported a 6% rise in third-quarter profit. The company reported earnings of $428 million, or 46 cents per share, up from $403 million, or 42 cents per share, a year ago. Sales rose 13% to $15.4 billion.

• Sony Corp. (ADR: SNE), the Japanese consumer electronics giant, announced (Thursday) that profits would be markedly weaker for fiscal year 2008. Sony predicted earnings of $1.5 billion (150 billion yen), down from an earlier July forecast of $2.4 billion (240 billion yen), The Washington Post reported.

• An auction to set the value of Washington Mutual Inc. (OTC: WAMUQ) debt was held yesterday (Thursday). Markit and Creditex, auction administrators, set the debt cost of failed bank Washington Mutual at 57 cents on the dollar. Sellers of credit default swap protection must pay 43 cents to counterparties, MarketWatch reported.

• Crude oil gained $1.09, or 1.6%, to settle at $67.84 yesterday (Thursday) in anticipation of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting today (Friday). “If OPEC makes a cut of 1 to 2 million barrels tomorrow, prices should firm up and move higher in the short term,” Gene McGillian, an analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Conn., told Bloomberg News. “Unless there is something huge announced, the market will eventually start moving lower again because of the weak economy.”

Source: Global Investing Roundups Friday, October 24th, 2008