Ail Company

In August, AIL Systems Inc. plans to close the doors of its facility in Westlake Village and lay off most of the 290 employees there, ending the workers' role in the story of the U. S. Air Force's beleaguered B-1 bomber. AIL's employees will face a tough job market, joining thousands of Southern California aerospace industry workers who've lost their jobs recently.

The government gave ailing insurer American International Group Inc. $30 billion more in loans Monday, renewing doubts about the effectiveness of federal bailouts and triggering another avalanche on Wall Street that pushed the Dow index below 7,000 for the first time in a dozen years. U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve officials also eased conditions on terms from some of the three earlier attempts to prop up the giant company, which also reported a staggering quarterly loss of $61.

Rockwell International agreed Wednesday to purchase Eaton's AIL subsidiary for an undisclosed amount, but securities analysts said the deal was potentially worth more than $350 million. Eaton has long been seeking a buyer for the troubled AIL unit, which was responsible for building the B-1 bomber's electronic warfare system. The Air Force says the system does not work properly and has canceled AIL's contract.

The Schwarzenegger administration is poised to allow financially troubled Pacific Lumber Co. to remove special habitat protections on more than 2,000 acres covered by a historic agreement creating the Headwaters Preserve of ancient redwoods in Humboldt County. In exchange, Pacific Lumber has proposed placing the environmental restrictions on an equivalent amount of its land that company and wildlife officials say has superior conservation value.

The AIL Systems Inc. division in Westlake Village is closing its doors Aug. 15 and laying off about 230 of its 260 employees, the company said Monday. AIL, a defense contractor based in Deerpark, N.Y., is a subsidiary of industrial concern Eaton Corp. in Cleveland, Ohio. AIL said the layoffs at its Westlake Village engineering division mark the final round of cutbacks since the company lost part of its contract with the federal government for work on the B-1 Bomber in March.

An agreement for Rockwell International Corp. to buy the Eaton Corp. subsidiary that makes electronic defensive gear for Rockwell's B-1B bomber has been canceled because of development problems with the equipment, the companies announced Wednesday. Rockwell also disclosed that it has been hired by Eaton to help work out the bugs in the so-called electronic countermeasures system, which is designed to help protect the high-tech supersonic bomber that Rockwell makes for the Air Force.

Leucadia National has increased its stake in financially troubled National Intergroup to 9% from 7.2% and will try to liquidate the financial-services and steel company, papers filed Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission show. The news comes one week after the collapse of National Intergroup's plan to merge with Bergen Brunswig, a fast-growing drug-distribution company in Los Angeles.

The hard-luck story of Kaiser Steel took another turn Monday as newly elected Chairman Bruce Hendry said that the company has run out of cash and is canceling medical benefits for nearly 6,000 retirees and current employees. Two efforts were disclosed, however, that could reinstate the benefits. Kaiser Steel's recently deposed chairman, Monty Rial, said that he has lined up an unidentified financial backer to bail out the company on the condition that Hendry resigns.

Rep. Jay Kim (R-Diamond Bar) has found a new owner for his financially troubled engineering firm--an investment group headed by a close relative. The investors have named the congressman's son-in-law as the company's chief financial officer. The change in ownership at JayKim Engineers, occurred while the company's records have been subpoenaed by the FBI and employees have been summoned before a federal grand jury.

It's no big secret that high-tech companies have traditionally attracted more than their share of eccentric chief executives. Apple Computer had legendary Steve Jobs. Atari Corp. had flashy, flamboyant Nolan Bushnell and Advanced Micro Devices has party-loving Jerry Sanders. And then there's Western Digital Inc., the semiconductor and computer components maker headed by Roger W. Johnson.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett issued a pessimistic outlook on the world, saying the war on terror could never be won--a potential problem for his insurance interests--and warning that returns from the stock market over the next few years look meager. Buffett also said 2001 earnings of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the insurance and investment company he controls, fell 76% as it absorbed losses from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the recession.

This island's latest big shift in China policy got rave reviews from the stock market and business leaders Monday, though some politicians urged the government to be careful with the new plan to expand economic ties with the mainland. The reaction came one day after President Chen Shui-bian accepted the advice of a high-powered team of advisors, who urged him to scrap limits on trade and investment with Taiwan's Communist neighbor.

When Nissan's plant here on the outskirts of Tokyo opened four decades ago, it was a symbol of hope and possibility for a nation still recovering from World War II. The network of supplier companies that sprouted around the hulking factory made locals feel they had something as certain as the rich Japanese soil--a lasting harvest of paychecks to replace the 80-year-old silk factories and tea plantations then in the throes of decline.

Carmike Cinemas Inc., the struggling No. 3 U.S. movie theater chain, filed for Bankruptcy Court protection from creditors less than a week after failing to make $9 million in interest payments to bondholders. The Columbus, Ga.-based chain listed $841.1 million in assets and $652.8 million in debts in its Chapter 11 petition Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.

Apple Computer has surprised makers of clone machines and strained its uneasy alliance with IBM by proposing steep increases in licensing fees for the struggling computer manufacturer's operating system. In recent months, Apple has proposed raising licensing fees by as much as 10 times the current rates, which vary widely but are typically about $50 per machine, industry sources said.

In a widening corruption probe, prosecutors said Tuesday that they will question eight more South Korean politicians about whether they helped arrange bank loans to overextended Hanbo Iron & Steel Co. in exchange for political donations. However, the jailed former president of Seoul Bank testified before the parliamentary committee investigating the scandal that there was no outside pressure on his institution to offer credit to Hanbo.

After 100 days on the job, Apple Computer Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Gilbert Amelio on Monday offered up his prescription for the ailing computer maker and announced that International Business Machines Corp. and Apple will work together on a notebook computer that will run Apple's Macintosh operating system software. Amelio said his plan to turn around Apple calls for slashing away at overhead while creating innovative products, particularly for the Internet.

This island's latest big shift in China policy got rave reviews from the stock market and business leaders Monday, though some politicians urged the government to be careful with the new plan to expand economic ties with the mainland. The reaction came one day after President Chen Shui-bian accepted the advice of a high-powered team of advisors, who urged him to scrap limits on trade and investment with Taiwan's Communist neighbor.

After little more then two years on the job, Novell Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Frankenberg resigned Thursday without explanation, leaving the struggling computer networking company rudderless at a time when the combination of Microsoft Corp. and the Internet is threatening to render it irrelevant. Novell board member John A. Young, a former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co., has assumed the role of chairman.

After 100 days on the job, Apple Computer Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Gilbert Amelio on Monday offered up his prescription for the ailing computer maker and announced that International Business Machines Corp. and Apple will work together on a notebook computer that will run Apple's Macintosh operating system software. Amelio said his plan to turn around Apple calls for slashing away at overhead while creating innovative products, particularly for the Internet.