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	Thursday?November?30th?2000
	 
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[IMAGE]	[IMAGE]	[IMAGE]	[IMAGE]	Business this week
				Nov 30th 2000
				From The Economist print edition  
				
				
				Kirk,s enterprise
				
				Dissatisfaction over the poor performance of DaimlerChrysler culminated in 
its third-largest shareholder, Kirk Kerkorian, taking legal action through 
his Tracinda Corporation, owner of around 4% of the car maker. He alleges 
that Daimler-Benz bosses were fraudulent in claiming that their takeover of 
Chrysler in 1998 was a &merger of equals8, and is demanding $9 billion in 
compensation. 
				See article: Kerkorian v DaimlerE+
				
				A planned restructuring at Mitsubishi Motors, a Japanese car company that is 
34% owned by DaimlerChrysler, appeared to go on hold after Mitsubishi agreed 
to bail out its loss-making Australian subsidiary to the tune of A$172m 
($90m).
				
				General Electric named Jeffrey Immelt as its next chairman and chief 
executive. He will take over from &Neutron Jack8 Welch, who has postponed his 
retirement until the end of 2001 in order to oversee a potentially tricky 
takeover of Honeywell. 
				See article: Face value: Jeffrey Immelt, GE,s boss-in-waiting
				
				Qantas, Australia,s leading airline, is to spend $4.6 billion on 31 new 
aircraft over the next ten years, including 12 new A3XX &superjumbos8 from 
Airbus. This gives the European consortium enough orders for a formal launch 
of its new aricraft. Though this is a significant victory for Airbus over 
Boeing, Qantas will also buy six long-range 747s. Boeing said that sales of 
its smaller 777 will exceed $18 billion this year, well ahead of similar 
Airbus planes.
				
				Creditors of Daewoo Motor, an insolvent South Korean car maker, agreed to 
provide further loans of 728 billion won ($605m), after the unions had 
accepted a restructuring that would include job cuts and sales of assets. 
This may help to persuade General Motors and Fiat to buy Daewoo.
				
				Glaxo Wellcome, a British drug company, withdrew Lotronex, its 
irritable-bowel syndrome treatment, from the American market because of 
worries by the Food and Drug Administration over its side-effects. It is 
unlikely that the drug will now be launched in other countries, and it may be 
withdrawn elsewhere. 
				
				Weyerhaeuser, an American forest-products company, made a $5.4 billion 
hostile bid for a rival, Willamette Industries after the latter rejected an 
unsolicited offer. Weyerhaeuser did not increase its price, although it may 
yet be forced to go higher to beat out rivals. 
				
				Hans off
				
				Hans Snook, the unconventional chief executive of Orange, is to step down 
after the mobile-phone company floats next year. Mr Snook will be replaced by 
Jean-Fran?ois Pontal from France Telecom, which acquired Orange earlier this 
year. 
				
				NTT DoCoMo, Japan,s largest mobile-phone operator, confirmed its purchase of 
a 16% stake in AT&T Wireless. DoCoMo is keen to promote its third-generation 
mobile technology; and AT&T Wireless, which is soon to become a separate 
company after its parent splits up, needs the cash to pay for bids for 
American wireless spectrum.
				See article: Japan,s mobile-Internet lead
				
				Lernout & Hauspie, a troubled Belgian speech-recognition software firm, filed 
for bankruptcy protection after finding $100m in cash missing from its South 
Korean unit. L&H,s shares were suspended a month ago after accounting errors 
had been reported; its two founders have both quit the company.
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
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				Sema Group, an Anglo-French computer-services outsourcing company, issued a 
profits warning that sent its shares nosediving by 44%. Its shares were hit 
again when a non-executive director resigned after selling shares when 
forbidden to do so by stockmarket rules. In a market rapidly becoming 
dominated by large companies offering global services, medium-sized companies 
are losing out. 
				
				Time, gentlemen
				
				Cazenove, the last bastion of traditional, blue-blooded stockbroking, 
announced that it would become a public company and abandon a partnership 
structure that has seen it through 177 years. Cazenove, which could be worth 
around o1.5 billion ($2.1 billion), is a niche outfit, but around half of 
Britain,s top 100 companies are clients of the firm.
				See article: Cazenove goes publicE+
				
				Cr,dit Agricole, a mutually owned French bank, stepped in to help Lazard, an 
investment bank, rid itself of an unwanted shareholder, Vincent Bollor,. He 
sold a 31% stake in Rue Imp,riale de Lyon, one of the holding companies for 
Lazard shares, to Cr,dit Agricole for FFr3.9 billion ($500m). Investors have 
been attracted by the discounted value of the holding companies, compared 
with the bank,s asset value; but they now want an unwinding of its 
labyrinthine ownership structure.
				See article: Lazard,s new structure
				
				Nomura, through its Principal Finance Group, is planning to lead a consortium 
that will pay Deutsche Bahn, Germany,s state-owned railway, DM7.6 billion 
($3.3 billion) for 114,000 flats. The Japanese securities firm will then 
securitise the rental income from the properties.
				
				Cooling down
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
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				America,s economy seems to be cooling. Revised figures for the third quarter 
showed GDP growing at 2.4% (rather than 2.7%), the slowest for four years. 
The Conference Board,s index showed that consumer confidence in November was 
at its lowest for more than a year. And durable-goods orders fell by 5.5% in 
October, after rising by 2.4% in the previous month. America,s high-tech 
Nasdaq stockmarket had another bad week, falling to just above 2,700, its 
lowest level for more than a year.
				
				Growth slowed in both France and Germany. French GDP growth in the third 
quarter was 2.7 % at an annual rate, compared with 3.3% in the second 
quarter. Germany,s growth slackened off even more strikingly, to 2.3% at an 
annual rate compared with 4.6% in the previous quarter. 
				
				
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