IN BRIEF
Las Vegas Sands Corp. executive promoted
Longtime Las Vegas Sands Corp. executive Rob Goldstein was promoted to executive vice president and saw his employment agreement extended by two-and-a-half years, the company said Tuesday.
The move comes several months after two other longtime Las Vegas Sands executives, former President Bill Weidner and Executive Vice President Brad Stone, left their positions with the company.
Weidner was forced to resign in March and Stone announced his departure about a month later. Reports surfaced concerning disputes between the company's management team and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sheldon Adelson over the direction of the casino operator.
Weidner, Stone and Goldstein all joined Las Vegas Sands together in 1995.
Goldstein, who oversees the day-to-day operations of The Venetian and Palazzo, will receive an annual base salary of $1.5 million along with bonuses and stock options, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows.
SEATTLE
Dell sees nadir for computer market
Dell Inc. said Tuesday that the U.S. personal computer market has reached its low point but that the timing of a global turnaround in the technology industry remains anyone's guess.
At a meeting with Wall Street analysts, the world's No. 2 PC maker elaborated on guidance it issued Monday, when it said it expects slightly stronger sales in the current quarter than in the last one. Despite these signs of improvement, Dell executives said Tuesday that many of the conditions that hurt PC sellers over the last several quarters aren't easing.
Before the economic downturn, PCs were replaced after about three years, but now the CEO said, laptops are being kept for 3 years, and desktops for four to five.
The CEO said he expects a wave of replacements for aging computers to come in 2010, provided the economy has improved. By then Microsoft Corp. will have released its next operating system, Windows 7, which Michael Dell said should accelerate new PC sales.
TRENTON, N.J.
Johnson & Johnson profits dip 3.5 percent
Health care products maker Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday said its second-quarter profit fell 3.5 percent, as the global recession, stronger dollar and generic competition took their toll on sales, particularly for prescription drugs.
The New Brunswick, N.J.-based maker of baby shampoo, Tylenol, contraceptives and biotech drugs earned $3.21 billion, or $1.15 per share, down from $3.33 billion, or $1.17 a share, a year ago.
Revenue fell 7.4 percent to $15.24 billion from $16.45 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, were looking for earnings per share of $1.11 and revenue of $15 billion.
ANN ARBOR, Mich.
General Motors boss sees more weak sales
General Motors Co.'s top executive described July auto sales as weak compared with the same month last year, but said it's still early.
CEO Fritz Henderson, speaking to reporters Tuesday at an event to launch the redesigned Buick LaCrosse sedan, said it seems like industrywide U.S. sales will again fall below an annual rate of 10 million vehicles this month.
The new GM, which just emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday, has said its debt and other expenses have been reduced so much that it can become profitable at a 10 million to 10.5 million annual sales rate. The struggling automaker has lost more than $80 billion in the past four years and has received $50 billion in loans from the U.S. government.
U.S. industry sales so far this year have been running below a 10 million annual sales rate as the economy has sputtered. GM's sales for the first half of the year are off 40 percent, while the overall U.S. market is down 35 percent.
Slot maker IGT will eliminate 160 jobs
International Game Technology, the world's biggest slot-machine maker, plans to eliminate 160 jobs and expects to incur $5 million to $7 million in severance and related costs.
The expenses will be recorded in the fiscal third quarter that ended last month, the Reno-based company said in a regulatory filing Tuesday. IGT is scheduled to report earnings on July 23.
The company has eliminated jobs and reduced its dividend in response to the continued drop in gambling in the U.S. following a record slump in 2008. In April, IGT said profit fell 44 percent in the fiscal second quarter and cut its 2009 earnings forecast. The company had 5,800 employees as of Sept. 30, the end of its previous fiscal year.
Melco Crown, LV Sands cap tour payments
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. and Las Vegas Sands Corp. capped the payments some tour companies earn bringing big bettors to their Cotai Strip casinos in Macau at 1.25 percent, ahead of government plans to set limits.
Since the July 1 agreement between Melco Crown's City of Dreams and Las Vegas Sands' Venetian Macau, "Our volume has been stronger than ever," Melco Crown Chief Executive Officer Lawrence Ho said Tuesday at an Oppenheimer & Co. conference in Boston. Ron Reese, a spokesman for Las Vegas Sands, confirmed the agreement but declined to provide more details.
Melco Crown is a venture between billionaire James Packer's Crown Ltd., Australia's biggest casino owner, and Ho, son of Macau gambling billionaire Stanley Ho, who runs SJM. Melco Crown opened its second Macau casino, City of Dreams, on June 1.
WASHINGTON
Mining reform matters, Interior secretary says
The Obama administration will make reforming the nation's 137-year-old hard-rock mining law a top priority despite a full plate of higher profile issues, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday.
Salazar told a Senate committee considering reform legislation that "it is time to ensure a fair return to the public for mining activities that occur on public lands and to address the cleanup of abandoned mines."
The General Mining Act of 1872, which gives mining preference over other uses on much of the nation's public lands, has left a legacy of hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines that are polluting rivers and streams throughout the West. Mining companies also don't pay royalties on gold, silver, copper and other hard-rock minerals mined on public land.
Reform bills have been introduced in the House and Senate, but past bids have foundered in the face of opposition from industry and many Western lawmakers.
SIGNS OF RECOVERY IN PAINT BUCKET
WASHINGTON — The price of a key ingredient in white paint is declining at a slower pace, a signal that the weakness in housing and factory activity should let up a bit.
Titanium dioxide prices fell 4.6 percent over the 12 months ending in June, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. That suggests the pace of home construction, renovations and manufacturing will be subdued in the coming months but a bit stronger than they have been, economists said.
The third straight month of smaller price drops for titanium dioxide also means the recession has eased, analysts said. In May, prices fell 5.1 percent over the year, after a 5.7 percent decline in April.
Economists track titanium dioxide as a barometer of the country’s overall financial health. When people are building homes, remodeling or even getting a house ready to sell, they buy paint. About 419 million gallons of paint were sold last year, and more than a third of it was white.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
