IN BRIEF

Preview Las Vegas coming Thursday

Preview Las Vegas 2008, an economic forum presented by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and Nevada Development Authority, is slated for Thursday at Thomas & Mack Center's Cox Pavilion.

The featured speaker is Guy Kawasaki, managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm, and columnist for Entrepreneur magazine.

Rossi Ralenkotter, chief executive officer of Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority; Richard Lee, vice president of First American Title Co. of Nevada; and Jeremy Aguero, principal of Applied Analysis reasearch firm will also speak.

Exhibit booths open at 7 a.m. and the program starts at 8 a.m. Tickets are $80 at the door. Call 641-5822, option 2 or visit www.previewlasvegas.com for information.

Debt trustee sues ex-Tropicana operator

Tropicana Entertainment LLC, the company that lost its license to operate an Atlantic City casino, was sued by a debt trustee seeking accelerated payment for notes and appointment of a receiver.

Wilmington Trust Co., trustee for $960 million in 9.625 percent senior subordinated notes due in 2014, also asked a Delaware Chancery Court judge to limit the ability of Tropicana's chief executive officer, William Yung, to sell assets, according to the complaint, made public Tuesday.

The lawsuit seeks "damages due to Yung's breach of fiduciary duties" including an effort "to hastily extract cash" from the casino by "indiscriminate and reckless cost- cutting measures" and alleges "Trop Entertainment is currently insolvent."

Tropicana, based in Crestview Hills, Ky., said Dec. 17 it would sell the Atlantic City property and Casino Aztar in Evansville, Indiana, to help pay off debt.

Yung owns Columbia Sussex Corp., the parent of Tropicana in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.

SAN FRANCISCO

Amid lower earnings, Yahoo plans layoffs

Yahoo's financial funk deepened at the end of 2007, prompting the slumping Internet icon to draw up plans to lay off 1,000 workers.

The Sunnyvale-based company disclosed the upcoming 7 percent reduction in its 14,300-employee work force during a Tuesday conference call to review a 23 percent decline in its fourth-quarter profit.

Yahoo didn't specify which areas of its operations will be trimmed. Yahoo jettisoned 650 workers in the wake of the dot-com bust seven years ago. Management said further details will be released by mid-February.

Yahoo earned $205.7 million, or 15 cents per share, during 2007's final three months, down from net income of $268.7 million, or 19 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 7.6 percent to $1.83 billion from $1.7 billion.

NEW YORK

Bank of America exec still likes Countrywide

Bank of America Corp.'s chief executive said Tuesday he still likes merger partner Countrywide Financial Corp., the troubled mortgage lender.

CEO Kenneth Lewis told a New York audience that despite significantly larger losses that Countrywide reported earlier Tuesday, the bank will forge ahead with the acquisition, saying that the planned deal is still "a go."

The remarks by Lewis drew little surprise from analysts. They said that although speculation had reached a fever pitch in recent days that Countrywide's mounting legal battles and plummeting share price could force Bank of America to take a second look, ultimately interest in the lender would prove too strong to sway Lewis.

"This is no surprise," Fox-Pitt Kelton analyst Andrew Marquardt said. "I think that they have done their due diligence and the market dynamics are nothing new."

MINNEAPOLIS

Northwest, JetBlue report quarterly losses

Northwest and JetBlue lost less money in the fourth quarter than expected, even in the face of high fuel prices, and JetBlue shares jumped more than 20 percent on the possibility of a passenger-sharing deal with Lufthansa.

It would have been a break-even quarter for Northwest Airlines Corp. if not for a loss on its stake in Pinnacle Airlines.

Discounter JetBlue Airways Corp. reported its first full-year profit in three years, and its shares soared on the news that it is negotiating with Deutsche Lufthansa AG over a "commercial agreement," which could include booking passengers on one another's planes. The German airline recently paid $300 million for 19 percent of JetBlue, giving the Forest Hills, N.Y., carrier much-needed cash.

Northwest Airlines Corp. lost $8 million, less than analysts expected, because of costs from the sale of its stake in commuter carrier Pinnacle Airlines Corp. and higher fuel prices. The net loss, which was 3 cents a share, narrowed from $267 million a year earlier while the company was in bankruptcy.

Sales rose 3.9 percent to $3.1 billion.

JetBlue said it lost $4 million, or 2 cents a share, in the three months ended Dec. 31 reversing a profit of $17 million, or 10 cents a share, a earlier.

Revenue rose 16.7 percent to $739 million from $633 million.

JetBlue shares rose $1, or 20.24 percent, to close at $5.94 on the Nasdaq National Market.

DETROIT

Ford says new car fit for a doughnut king

"D'oh!" What was Ford thinking?

Belittling your product probably isn't a great marketing tool, but two top Ford Motor Co. executives recently criticized the looks of the new Taurus sedan, with one comparing it to doofus cartoon character Homer Simpson.

While speaking in Detroit this month, CEO Alan Mulally and Derrick Kuzak, head of global product development, took shots at the current Taurus, with Kuzak likening its looks to the portly, balding, doughnut-devouring Simpson.

During a speech to industry insiders, Mulally hinted that a new, nicer-looking Taurus is coming in the next year or so.

NEW YORK

Treasury prices decline; rate cut hopes shift

Treasury prices mainly fell Tuesday, pushing short-term yields well above recent historic lows, as investors scaled back bets that the Federal Reserve will cut rates sharply this week.

The 10-year benchmark note slid 0.56 points to 104.88 with a yield of 3.66 percent, up from 3.58 percent late Monday.