BUSINESS BRIEFS
Designer tasked with creating new style at Old Navy
Advertiser Staff and News Services
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SAN FRANCISCO — Slumping clothing retailer Gap Inc. said yesterday it has hired interior designer and television personality Todd Oldham to bring his sense of style to its Old Navy discount chain.
Oldham, who is currently hosting an interior design show on the Bravo network, will be Old Navy's design creative director. He will join Gap on Oct. 1, about two months after the San Francisco-based company hired a new chief executive, Glenn Murphy, to steer its turnaround efforts.
Besides Old Navy and its namesake chain, Gap also owns Banana Republic.
Although he has been focused on interior design in recent years, Oldham began his career in fashion. He also has previous experience working for discount retailers, having designed a line of dorm room furniture for Target Inc. in 2002 and 2003.
EQUITY FIRMS HALT HARMAN BUYOUT
WASHINGTON — Two private equity firms yesterday backed out of their $8 billion buyout of upscale audio equipment maker Harman International Industries Inc., marking the latest such deal to run into trouble amid tightening global credit conditions.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s private equity unit told Harman they are under no obligation to complete the merger because "a material adverse change in Harman's business has occurred," Harman said in a statement.
Harman, whose audio equipment brands include Infinity, JBL and Harman Kardon, said it disagreed with those assertions, but did not make clear what action, if any, it would take.
MATTEL APOLOGIZES TO SOOTHE CHINA
LOS ANGELES — Mattel Inc. tried to save face yesterday with Chinese officials, taking the blame for the recent recalls of millions of Chinese-made toys as it strives to mend a strained relationship with the nation that makes most of its toys and fattens its profit.
The world's largest toymaker sent a top executive to personally apologize to China's product safety chief, Li Changjang, as reporters and company lawyers looked on.
OVERTIME SUIT CLOSER TO TRIAL
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — A lawsuit filed on behalf of 900 Starbucks Corp. store managers who say they are glorified baristas and should be eligible for overtime came one step closer to trial yesterday.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra in West Palm Beach, Fla., ruled that the plaintiffs in the case were "similarly situated" and the case could continue as a class action. The suit seeks unpaid overtime wages, damages and attorney's fees that could total tens of millions of dollars.
The case is part of a national tussle over whether many managers are improperly classified as exempt from overtime laws. Starbucks competitor Caribou Coffee Co. faces a similar case in Minnesota.
PAPER SUPPLIER ADDS 8 FACTORIES
TOLEDO, Ohio — A privately owned company that supplies paper to magazine and catalog publishers is buying the North American operations of one of the world's largest makers of paper products for about $2.1 billion.
NewPage Holding Corp. is acquiring eight factories from Finland-based Stora Enso Oyj and will combine those plants with its North American operations. The shrinking U.S. paper industry has been hurt by Chinese imports and the Internet.
NO CUTS PLANNED, HOME DEPOT SAYS
ATLANTA — The Home Depot Inc. doesn't plan to make any broad-based job cuts or reduce the number of its core retail stores in the face of a persistent housing slump that isn't expected to improve anytime soon, Chief Executive Frank Blake said yesterday.
Blake told The Associated Press that the Atlanta-based company's focus on customer service means more employees, not fewer, will be needed.
While Home Depot said earlier this week it was closing its 11 Landscape Supply stores, Blake said there are no plans to close any of the company's more than 2,000 core retail stores.
ANALYSTS SEE GAS PRICES INCREASING
NEW YORK — Oil prices fell yesterday as investors sold to lock in profits, but analysts doubt oil's record-breaking run is over and say gasoline prices are about to start following crude higher.
Gasoline prices have so far held steady or even fallen despite a rally that boosted oil to record highs for eight straight trading sessions on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Oil's advance has been driven by a combination of the Federal Reserve's half-point interest rate cut, the falling dollar and concerns that tropical storms will strike key oil and gas installations in the Gulf of Mexico.
Interest rates and their role in pulling the dollar lower are drawing fresh investment into energy markets, analysts say. Because oil and other commodities are priced in dollars, they appear cheaper to overseas investors, whose currencies have strengthened against the dollar.
