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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Friday, March 31, 2000

Matson unit names new president, CEO

Ronald J. Forest has been promoted to president and chief executive officer of Matson Intermodal System, the Matson Navigation Co. subsidiary that handles the road and rail links to its mainland-Hawaii ocean shipping business.

Forest joined Matson in 1995 as operations manager for Southern California, became area manager for Northern California in 1996, and a Matson Navigation vice president in 1998, responsible for labor relations. Later that year he became vice president and area manager for Southern California.

Matson Intermodal is the biggest unit of Matson Navigation, which is the biggest subsidiary of Honolulu-based Alexander & Baldwin Inc.

Xerox Corp. confirms it will cut 5,200 jobs

STAMFORD, Conn. -- Business machines giant Xerox Corp. said today it was cutting 5,200 jobs, or 5 percent of its work force, saying it can "no longer operate business as usual and expect to win."

Analysts who follow the company had predicted the move. A Xerox spokesman in Connecticut today said any impact in Hawaii would likely be "minimal" although layoffs here have not been ruled out.

Earlier this week, an executive for the Xerox Hawaii division, which employees about 200 in the islands and Guam, said he didn't expect the cuts to include the division since it has been growing recently.

In other news . . .

WASHINGTON -- The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages was unchanged from last week at 8.23 percent, according to a survey by mortgage broker Freddie Mac. Fifteen-year mortgages were also unchanged from last week's 7.84 percent. One-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged an initial rate of 6.76 percent this week, down from 6.78 percent last week.