BUSINESS BRIEFS
GlaxoSmithKline may cut as many as 10,000 jobs
Advertiser news services
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LONDON — British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline will cut thousands of jobs when it announces full-year results this week, newspapers reported yesterday.
The Sunday Telegraph said up to 6,000 jobs would be eliminated around the world. The Observer said as many as 10,000 jobs could go — 10 percent of the company's global workforce.
A GlaxoSmithKline PLC spokesman would not comment on the reports, but said the company had "an ongoing restructuring program."
Major pharmaceutical manufacturers are facing increasing competition from generic rivals to their drugs. Like its rivals, Glaxo has already been cutting jobs. The company aims to shave $1 billion off its annual cost base by 2010.
U.S. FIRM BIDDING FOR WATERFORD
DUBLIN — An American private equity firm is bidding to buy Waterford Crystal and keep the hand-cut glassmaker operating in Ireland, a government minister said yesterday.
Martin Cullen, a lawmaker who represents the city of Waterford, spoke as hundreds of laid-off glassworkers prepared for a third straight night of occupying their workplace. Bankruptcy officials ordered the factory to close Friday because money for paying more than 700 staff had run out. Workers stormed into the factory's tourist center and vowed not to come out until the shutdown was reversed.
Cullen said a New York-based buyout specialist, Clarion Capital Partners, made an undisclosed offer Saturday to the government, union leaders and the Dublin accountant overseeing the sale or disposal of the debt-crippled firm.
Clarion Capital declined to comment.
BERRIES WILL GET TRACKING LABELS
The world's largest fresh berry producer expects to have labels on most of its berries by next year so consumers can locate the farm that grew them.
Driscoll's, of Watsonville, Calif., is putting HarvestMark labels on clamshells of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and later, blueberries.
The label includes a 16-digit code. By going to HarvestMark or Driscoll's Web site, consumers will then be able to enter the code and get information on the farm, farmer and growing region.
The ability to quickly track where fresh produce is grown is also key to helping food safety investigators trace contaminated food back to its source, as well as getting it out of stores faster.
