Briefcase
McDonald’s sponsorship with Olympics to continue
INNSBRUCK, Austria – McDonald’s Corp. extended its global Olympic sponsorship for eight more years on Friday to remain a top-level sponsor through the 2020 Summer Games.
McDonald’s and the International Olympic Committee didn’t reveal financial details of the deal, which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
McDonald’s, an IOC sponsor since 1976, will continue for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia; the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro; the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea; and the 2020 Summer Olympics. It became the seventh top-tier sponsor to renew its partnership with the IOC through 2020, following Coca-Cola Co., Dow Chemical Co., General Electric Co., Omega, Proctor & Gamble Co. and Visa Inc.
Associated Press
Novartis reduces U.S. jobs, citing lower drug sales
GENEVA – Drugmaker Novartis will cut 1,960 jobs in the United States this year in anticipation of lower sales for two of its hypertension drugs, the Swiss company said Friday.
Basel-based pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG said the cuts will affect 1,630 sales positions in the field and 330 posts at its U.S. headquarters in New Jersey.
The restructuring was necessary because of the expiration of its patent for the best-selling hypertension drug Diovan and the failure of a clinical study into another hypertension drug, Tekturna, Novartis said.
Associated Press
Lions Gate purchases ‘Twilight’ maker Summit
LOS ANGELES – Movie and TV studio Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. is buying Summit Entertainment, the maker of the hit “Twilight” series for teens, for $412.5 million in cash and stock. The deal announced Friday brings together two studios hoping to create a Hollywood powerhouse focused on young adult audiences.
The “Twilight” franchise has grossed more than $2.5 billion worldwide since the first movie blew out of the gates in late 2008. The finale of the five-movie juggernaut, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2,” is due out in November.
Meanwhile Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. plans to kick off its own four-part series based on Suzanne Collins’ young adult novels, “The Hunger Games,” beginning in March.
Associated Press
Workers get overtime pay at plant making Nike shoes
JAKARTA, Indonesia – Sporting-goods giant Nike Inc. says a decision to give Indonesian workers $1 million in unpaid overtime demonstrates a commitment to fighting workplace misconduct.
A national trade union representing nearly 4,500 employees from the PT Nikomas plant, which makes shoes for Nike, said they worked more than 600,000 hours over a two-year period without pay. After 11 months of negotiations, the plant in Banten province agreed to reimburse the workers.
“Nike commends the factory,” said Mary Remuzzi, a spokeswoman for the Beaverton, Ore.-based company.
Nike, which came under heavy criticism a decade ago for its use of foreign sweatshops and child labor, has taken steps since then to improve conditions at its 1,000 overseas factories.
Associated Press