Kimberly-Clark to cut up to 1,300 jobs
DALLAS -- Kimberly-Clark plans to eliminate up to 1,300 jobs as part of restructuring efforts aimed at reducing costs and making its business more efficient.
The consumer products company behind brands such as Kleenex and Huggies has 58,000 workers worldwide, according to its website. That means the cuts would amount to about 2 percent of its workforce. The company has 770 full-time employees in Arkansas at facilities in Conway and Maumelle. There are about 75 employees at a sales office in Rogers, a company spokesman said Tuesday.
Kimberly-Clark Corp. said Tuesday that it anticipates restructuring costs between $130 million and $160 million, after taxes. The company foresees between $120 million and $140 million in savings by the end of 2017.
Details of the restructuring were not released. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2016, the company said.
Shares of the company gained $3.19, or 3 percent, to close Tuesday at $111.23.
-- The Associated Press
Staples probes possible data breach
NEW YORK -- Staples Inc. is looking into a potential credit card data breach and has been in touch with law enforcement officials about the issue.
The office supplies retailer said Tuesday that if it turns up any data discrepancies during its investigation, customers won't be responsible for fraudulent activity on their credit cards as long as it is reported in a timely manner.
"We take the protection of customer information very seriously and are working to resolve the situation," spokesman Mark Cautela said in a statement.
Earlier this month, Sears Holdings Corp. reported a breach at its Kmart stores that started last month, saying some customers' credit and debit cards may have been compromised. Other breaches have occurred at retailers including Target Corp., Supervalu Inc. and Home Depot Inc.
Shares of Staples Inc., based in Framingham, Mass., rose 16 cents to close Tuesday at $12.46.
-- The Associated Press
Wyly files for bankruptcy protection
DALLAS -- Prominent Dallas businessman Samuel Wyly has filed for bankruptcy protection as he and the estate of his brother face up to $400 million in penalties after being found liable for hiding stock holdings overseas.
Wyly filed a bankruptcy petition in federal district court in Dallas on Sunday.
The one-time owner of the Michaels arts-and-crafts store chain said that his biggest liabilities are to the IRS -- the amount is unknown -- and $198 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A judge in New York ruled last month that Wyly and the estate of his brother, Charles, must surrender up to $400 million after a civil jury found that they had engaged in a 13-year fraud that involved creating a web of offshore trusts and subsidiaries to hide stock sales. Regulators said they made $550 million in profit.
Wyly, 80, listed assets of $100 million to $500 million, but his lawyers said he needed to file for bankruptcy protection "due to the massive costs of investigations and then litigation" by the SEC and the collection of the court judgment.
The SEC sued the Wylys in 2010. Charles Wyly died the next year in a car crash at age 77. This year, a jury in federal court in New York sided with the SEC and found that the Wylys had misused trusts in the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands. The judge ordered Wyly and his brother's estate to forfeit more than $187 million and said that interest could push the total to between $300 million and $400 million.
-- Bloomberg News
Contractor plans 475 hires in Oklahoma
LAWTON, Okla. -- A Virginia-based federal contractor plans to hire nearly 500 people in southwestern Oklahoma, according to officials from the city of Lawton and the Lawton-Fort Sill Economic Development Corporation.
Serco Inc., headquartered in Reston, Va., will bring 475 jobs to Lawton. It provides professional, technology and management services and has about 10,000 employees, The Lawton Constitution reported.
Mayor Fred Fitch said the company told him last year that Lawton was one of its best locations because of its labor force. Phil Kennedy, chairman of the Economic Development Corporation, called the jobs a great win for Lawton.
Serco won a July 2013 contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to work on the new health benefit exchanges. It operates four centers in the U.S. that work on applications submitted for enrollment into health plans. The others are in Arkansas, Kentucky and Missouri.
-- The Associated Press
Citigroup board meets in Middle East
Citigroup Inc.'s board is meeting in the Middle East for the first time as part of the bank's practice of holding one such event outside the U.S. each year.
Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat and top executives are in the United Arab Emirates for a three-day visit ending today, a spokesman for the New York-based bank said, asking not to be named. The meeting in the U.A.E. reflects the region's importance to the bank's global strategy, the spokesman said.
Middle Eastern equity markets from Saudi Arabia to Dubai are surging, prompting companies to revive initial public offerings and consider mergers and acquisitions. Saudi Arabia will conduct the second-largest IPO this year when the government sells a $6 billion stake in lender National Commercial Bank. Citigroup itself advised a group of buyers interested in taking over Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s Middle East business, people with knowledge of the matter said in July.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 10/22/2014