AIG, Bear Stearns loans repaid
NEW YORK – The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Thursday that loans it set up to help facilitate the bailouts of American International Group Inc. and now-defunct investment bank Bear Stearns during the financial crisis have been fully repaid with interest.
In total, $53.12 billion in loans were repaid. The original amount of the loan to a portfolio called Maiden Lane III LLC, created to buy the securities, repay debt and provide capital for some of AIG’s operations, was $24.3 billion. Another $28.82 billion in loans, set up through a portfolio named Maiden Lane LLC, which helped facilitate Bear Stearns’ takeover by JPMorgan Chase & Co., were also repaid. The loans were repaid through asset sales.
The government stepped in with a $182.5 billion package to rescue New York-based AIG from collapse in the depths of the financial crisis in 2008. It was the largest bailout in history.
OPEC to keep output goal steady
VIENNA – OPEC oil ministers agreed Thursday to keep their production target steady, in a compromise meant to defuse rivalries between Iran and Saudi Arabia and to send a soothing message to economically troubled consuming nations.
Oil prices have fallen more than 20 percent over the past two months, and a statement from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries citied “downside risks facing the global economy” and ample stocks of crude as being responsible for the trend.
While agreeing to hold the output target steady, however, the statement suggested that OPEC ministers were ready to come together on short notice if prices fell to levels dictating a production cutback.
OPEC accounts for about a third of world crude production, and its decision Thursday corresponded with its professed goal of taking volatility out of global oil markets.
Microsoft plans big announcement
LOS ANGELES – Microsoft is being secretive about a “major” announcement it plans to make in Los Angeles on Monday.
The company invited media to an afternoon event, but it says it won’t divulge the location until that morning. In an email, the company says, “This will be a major Microsoft announcement – you will not want to miss it.”
Microsoft declined further comment Thursday.
The venue suggests it has to do with the entertainment industry.
In recent months Microsoft Corp. has made more TV programming available on its Xbox 360 video game console. Netflix Inc. is among the offerings on the Xbox, and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is on Microsoft’s board.
Microsoft is also preparing to release a new operating system, Windows 8, that works across laptop computers, tablets and even televisions.
Coca-Cola to sell in Myanmar
NEW YORK – The Coca-Cola Co. plans to start selling its drinks in Myanmar for the first time in 60 years, following the U.S. government’s decision to suspend investment sanctions on the country for its democratic reforms.
Myanmar is one of three countries where Coca-Cola doesn’t do business. The other two are Cuba and North Korea.
The world’s biggest soft drink maker said Thursday it will start doing business in the country as soon as the U.S. government issues a license allowing American companies to make such investments.
The U.S. announced last month that it was suspending restrictions on American investments in the Southeast Asian country, which is still easing toward democracy.
Nokia cutting jobs, closing plants
HELSINKI – Nokia says it will slash 10,000 jobs and close plants as the ailing company fights fierce competition, and gave a grim outlook for most of the year, causing its shares to plunge more than 15 percent to $2.37.
The layoffs and other cost-cutting measures will shut down research and development facilities in Germany and Canada. Nokia said it will also close its main Finnish manufacturing plant in Salo, with 850 layoffs, but will keep it as a research and development center.
More than a third of the global job cuts, to be completed by the end of 2013, will be in Finland, the company said, but it pledged to keep its corporate headquarters in Espoo, near the capital, Helsinki.