Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Thursday, April 12, 2001
Microsoft hiring plans down from last year
REDMOND, Wash. >> Microsoft Corp. said it plans to hire 5,000 to 6,000 workers in the fiscal year beginning in July, fewer than the number projected for the current year, as the biggest software maker cuts costs.The hires will fill new positions and those left vacant by departing employees. Most of the jobs will be at Microsoft's headquarters in the Seattle suburb of Redmond, Wash., President and Chief Operating Officer Rick Belluzzo said.
The company expects to hire 6,000 to 7,000 people in the year ending in June. Microsoft is paring expenses as revenue growth cools because personal-computer and software sales are slowing.
Expanding Safeway posts 17% gain in earnings
PLEASANTON, Calif. >> Safeway Inc. said fiscal first-quarter profit rose 17 percent, as the No. 3 U.S. supermarket chain sold more private-label goods and opened and acquired more stores. Net income rose to $283.9 million, or 55 cents a share, from $241.9 million, or 48 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose 8.2 percent to $7.67 billion in the period ended March 24, the company said in a statement.Safeway boosted sales of its private-label products, which generate about 10 percent more profit than national brands. It also opened 22 stores during the quarter and bought the 39-store Genuardi's chain. Safeway, which rebounded from a strike at a California distribution center blamed for a drop in fourth-quarter profit, said it will meet annual earnings forecasts.
Boeing's fast jet engine will only need modification
FRANKFURT >> Boeing Co., the world's largest planemaker, said it won't need any new engine developments for its proposed fast jet, which will fly at almost the speed of sound."The design is based on currently available engines," Boeing Chairman Phil Condit said. "We're talking to manufacturers about what the modifications might be though it doesn't need a new engine."
Boeing last month shelved plans to offer a larger 747 aircraft so it could focus on developing a twin-engine plane that could fly at speeds of up to 700 miles per hour, 20 percent faster than current jets.
Former Lucent executive named Kodak president
ROCHESTER, N.Y. >> Eastman Kodak Co. picked Patricia F. Russo, a former executive at telecommunications equipment maker Lucent Technologies Inc., as its president and chief operating officer.The selection makes Russo second in command at Kodak, the highest ranking for a woman in the photography company's 120-year history. Starting Monday, she will oversee daily operations and serve as a strategic partner to chief executive and chairman Daniel Carp.
Russo, 48, who left Lucent in August, re-emerged in December as chairman of the board of Avaya Inc., a Lucent spinoff last year that is one of the largest providers of office telephone systems for businesses and government agencies.