World Business Quick Take

■ Finance

"Jobless rate unchanged

Japan's jobless rate held steady at 3.8 percent last month from the previous month, the government said yesterday, suggesting companies were willing to add labor despite uncertainty about the economy. Japanese Economy Minister Hiroko Ota said the government remained bullish but cautious about job market conditions. "We haven't changed our views on the employment situation," Ota told reporters after a regular Cabinet meeting. The labor market "continues improving, but its pace is slow."



■ Finance

Merrill co-president retiring

Wall Street investment bank Merrill Lynch said late on Monday that Ahmass Fakahany would retire as co-president and chief operating officer, effective Feb. 1. Fakahany, 49, joined the New York-based financial-services firm in 1987 and has served in a variety of senior roles. Merrill Lynch did not reveal the company's intentions for a successor. Fakahany is considered one of the architects of Merrill's development of high-risk investment vehicles, including those backed by subprime mortgages. The strategy helped rack up a US$7.8 billion net loss for the firm last year, compared with a net profit of US$7.5 billion in 2006.



■ Food

Danone buys plants: report

French food giant Danone, which is embroiled in a bitter feud with a Chinese partner, has bought two local dairy plants as it seeks to reshuffle its China operations, China Business News reported yesterday. Danone has signed an agreement to buy two manufacturing plants, one in Beijing and the other in Shanghai, from Beijing-based Miaoshi Dairy (妙士乳業), the report said, citing unnamed sources. Spokespeople for Danone and Miaoshi contacted by Agence-France Presse either declined to comment or said they were unaware of the matter.



■ Beverages

Fired CEO gets nice options

Starbucks Corp has given the chief executive officer it fired earlier this month a severance package that includes US$1.25 million the coffee retailer will pay out over the next year. The agreement, disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, also allows Jim Donald to exercise options for 1.6 million shares of stock at prices of either US$10.86 or US$15.23. Those options are worth US$10.73 million, based on Monday's closing stock price of US$19.66. The world's largest chain of coffee houses fired Donald on Jan. 7 and handed the reins back to chairman Howard Schultz as part of a series of moves aimed at revitalizing the company.



■ Economy

Consumer confidence down

Consumer confidence in France dropped to a record low this month as rising inflation squeezed purchasing power. A gauge of consumer sentiment fell to minus 34, the lowest since the index was introduced in 1987, from a revised minus 30 last month, Insee, the national statistics office, said yesterday. A 66 percent increase in oil prices over the past year pushed the inflation rate to the highest in almost four years at 2.8 percent last month. Public confidence in President Nicolas Sarkozy also dropped, with his popularity falling to the lowest since he took office in May as higher prices deepened concern he would fail to fulfill his pledge to boost living standards, two opinion polls showed this month.