Price tags scarce at some Wal-Marts

An investigation by the state attorney general’s office at five Wal-Mart stores found up to 80 percent of the merchandise didn’t carry price tags, Attorney General Mike Cox said Wednesday.

While an Okemos store near Lansing had price tags on 75 percent of its merchandise, only 25 percent of items in a Saginaw store had tags. Stores in Roseville, Coldwater and Howell put price tags on 20 percent of their merchandise.

A spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Wednesday that quick price changes make it tough for the retailer to meet the law’s requirements.

•AK Steel Holding Corp. — relying on hardball tactics used in other labor standoffs — operated its Middletown Works plant Wednesday with salaried and replacement workers after locking out nearly 2,700 union employees.

Both sides said they want to negotiate a new deal to replace the one that expired at midnight Tuesday, but the company said the union must accept that the independent steelmaker needs to cut labor costs to survive in the increasingly global industry.

The union, whose members had recently voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, said it had offered to keep working under the old contract.

The union’s president estimates the company has “hundreds” of replacement workers from various sources, but didn’t know details. Brian Daley, president of the Armco Employees Independent Federation, said in an interview that union members are frustrated and skeptical about how well the plant can operate with the new workers.

•Berkshire Hathaway Inc., billionaire Warren Buffett’s investment company, on Wednesday said it had completed the purchase of Business Wire, a privately held distributor of press releases.

Terms of the deal, which was announced Jan. 17, were not disclosed.

Business Wire, which is based in San Francisco, will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, whose other holdings include the insurer Geico Corp. as well as stakes in American Express Co., Anheuser-Busch Cos. and The Coca-Cola Co.

•Gateway Inc. has agreed to pay $47 million to rival computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. to settle a series of lawsuits over patents.

The two companies also entered into a cross-licensing agreement that lasts for seven years, said Joe Beyers, a Hewlett-Packard’s vice president.