IN BRIEF

Ruling in Wynn tip case will wait until at least mid-May

Wynn Las Vegas dealers will now have to wait until at least mid-May for a ruling on whether the property's tip-pooling policy breaks state labor law.

Attorneys for the resort have asked Nevada Labor Commissioner Michael Tanchek for more time to file briefs in the case, which in turn will delay Tanchek's ruling, the labor commissioner's office announced Tuesday.

A ruling was initially planned for January, but in December Tanchek pushed the date to April because he needed more time than expected to review 55 hours of testimony from the hearing.

Hearings on the Wynn tip-pooling policy began in July and concluded in October.

Wynn dealers are asking Tanchek to find that the resort's new tip policy violates state labor laws. They are asking him to award about 500 dealers $35 million in back pay and penalties.

Attorneys for Wynn have maintained that the tip policy complies with state laws. They said the resort's tip-sharing policy allowing front-line resort employees to share dealers' tips is comparable to a restaurant sharing tips between busboys, bartenders and waiters.

Attorneys for both sides have said any decision by Tanchek will be appealed, probably to Clark County District Court, where dealers first challenged the policy in 2006.

Hawaiian Tropic Zone to close inside Miracle Mile Shops

The Hawaiian Tropic Zone Las Vegas, a restaurant, bar and lounge in the Miracle Mile Shops, will close, a publicist confirmed Tuesday.

Lindsey Rathjen of Kirvin Doak Communications confirmed the closure but wouldn't say when the closure will happen. She said an announcement about the closing date and the fate of the restaurant site will be forthcoming but wouldn't say when it would come.

The Hawaiian Tropic Zone Las Vegas opened in January 2008.

TRENTON, N.J.

Purchase of Schering-Plough boosts profits for Merck & Co.

Drugmaker Merck & Co. on Tuesday posted huge jumps in revenue and profit for the fourth quarter, mainly due to its purchase of Schering-Plough Corp., its longtime partner on lucrative cholesterol drugs. It disclosed a little detail on its planned restructuring, but gave no forecast for 2010 profit or research spending.

Merck reported net income of $6.49 billion, or $2.35 per share, up from $1.64 billion, or 78 cents a share, a year earlier. The big gain was due to $7.8 billion worth of mostly merger-related accounting items, plus a few billion dollars in sales from Schering-Plough products.

Merck said the first phase of its restructuring program is expected to bring annual savings of $2.6 billion to $3 billion in 2012 -- the bulk of its previously announced plan to save $3.5 billion a year by 2012, a key merger goal.

Sales jumped to $10.09 billion from $6.03 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, bolstered by Schering-Plough products such as allergy medicine Nasonex and rheumatoid arthritis drugs Remicade and Simponi, plus higher sales for Merck vaccines and some of its top-selling drugs.

AUSTIN, Texas

Stronger sales help push Whole Foods earnings higher

Whole Foods Market Inc. said Tuesday that stronger sales helped send its first-quarter profit soaring 78.8 percent from a year earlier.

Whole Foods, based in Austin, Texas, said it earned $49.7 million, or 32 cents per share, for the quarter. That's up from $27.8 million, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier.

Sales for the company, which operates four stores in Southern Nevada, rose 7 percent to $2.64 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings of 26 cents per share on revenue of $2.6 billion.

Whole Foods shares rose 77 cents, or 2.59 percent, Tuesday to close at $30.52 on the Nasdaq National Market.

Gasoline prices declining locally, new reports show

Drivers are still getting a break at the pump, as gasoline prices continued their monthlong slide on Tuesday, dropping to a new low for 2010.

Oil prices spiked above $77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, spurred by upbeat economic news. Tuesday's rise may not translate into higher pump prices immediately. Although there have been price swings of 4 or 5 percent in oil from time to time, crude prices per barrel have lingered mainly in the $70s over the last few months.

In Las Vegas, the price a gallon of regular, self-serve unleaded gasoline averaged $2.748 on Wednesday, AAA said in its Daily Fuel Gauge Report. That's down 1.8 percent from $2.798 a month ago but up 24.1 percent from $2.215 a year ago, AAA said.

PORTLAND, Ore.

Chief's turnaround plan helps Kraft Foods triple its earnings

Kraft Foods' income more than tripled in its first quarterly report since it acquired British candy maker Cadbury, partly on CEO Irene Rosenfeld's turnaround program.

Kraft said Tuesday that it earned $710 million, or 48 cents per share, for the quarter, up sharply from $178 million, or 12 cents per share, in the same quarter of the prior year.

The company credited the growth to a multiyear turnaround, which included cutting costs, shedding some business lines and increasing its focus on its most profitable products.

The results exceeded analysts' expectations of 45 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Sales grew 3 percent to $11 billion but missed expectations of $11.7 billion.

SEATTLE

Redbox agrees to delay rentals of Warner Bros. films on DVD

Digital video disc rental kiosk chain Redbox has agreed to wait 28 days after Warner Bros. releases new movies for sale before offering to rent them for $1 a night.

The agreement announced Tuesday ends a lawsuit Redbox, a subsidiary of Coinstar Inc., filed against Warner Bros.' home video unit last August. That was its third such lawsuit against a studio that wanted to delay cheap rentals to boost sales of DVDs, a significant moneymaker for movie studios.

Redbox said in the lawsuit that it was being unfairly prevented from buying discs from wholesalers. The company had resorted to buying new-release DVDs from retailers at higher prices to keep its kiosks stocked with new titles.

The two-year deal with Warner Bros. will lower the cost Redbox has to pay to stock its machines -- partly because Redbox has agreed to destroy used DVDs after their popularity in the kiosks wanes instead of selling them for $7.