IN BRIEF

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.

Financier may issue bid for Tropicana

Billionaire financier Carl Icahn may be rolling the dice again on an Atlantic City casino.

The former owner of the now-defunct Sands Casino Hotel is among parties who may offer to buy the troubled Tropicana Casino and Resort once it's offered in a bankruptcy auction.

Attorney Gilbert Brooks, representing Icahn and other secured lenders who hold a $1.4 billion mortgage on the hotel-casino, says Icahn and others are willing to make an offer as a so-called stalking horse. That involves making a minimum offer in a bankruptcy court auction that other bidders can then exceed; if no one else bids, the stalking horse gets the property.

A bankruptcy auction likely will be authorized March 18.

DETROIT

Auto Workers' deal will alter rules, cut bonuses

The United Auto Workers' deal with Detroit's three automakers limits overtime, changes work rules, cuts lump-sum cash bonuses and gets rid of cost-of-living pay raises to help reduce the companies' labor costs, people briefed on the agreement said Wednesday.

The UAW announced Tuesday that it reached the tentative agreement with General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co. over contract concessions, as GM and Chrysler sent plans to the Treasury Department asking for a total of $39 billion in government financing to help them survive.

Concessions with the union are a condition of the $17.4 billion in government loans that the automakers have received so far.

RICHMOND, Va.

Circuit City selling off furniture to pay debt

Circuit City Stores Inc., once the nation's second-largest electronics retailer, is selling the furniture, fixtures and equipment from its headquarters and distribution and service centers to help pay down its debt.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Huennekens on Wednesday approved an agreement between the Richmond-based company and Michigan-based Liquid Asset Partners LLC to sell the assets. They include warehouse and office equipment and electronics from seven distribution centers, four service centers, two corporate offices and other facilities.

Also Wednesday, Hilco Merchant Resources LLC, a Northbrook, Ill.-based retail consulting and liquidation firm, said it hopes to buy the Circuit City brand name and its Web site.

NEW YORK

Facebook shrinks from changes after protests

Facebook is backing off a change in its user policies while it figures how to resolve questions about who controls the information shared on the social networking site.

The site, which boasts 175 million users worldwide, had quietly updated its terms of use a couple of weeks ago. The changes sparked an uproar after popular consumer rights advocacy blog Consumerist.com pointed them out Sunday.

Facebook has since sought to reassure its users that this isn't so.

On Wednesday morning, users logging onto Facebook were greeted by a message saying that the site is reverting to its previous terms of use policies.

NEW YORK

Treasury prices sink as investors grow wary

Treasury prices gave up some of the previous session's gains Wednesday, as investors grew wary again about upcoming supply.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 0.81 points to 100. Its yield rose to 2.72 percent from 2.66 percent.

The 30-year bond fell 1.38 points to 99.06, and its yield rose to 3.55 percent from 3.48 percent.