Business briefs 5/29/08

Oil rebounds on Nigeria threat, supply concerns

NEW YORK — Oil futures rose back above $131 Wednesday, recovering from early losses as threats against Nigerian oil facilities led investors to at least temporarily set aside concerns about falling U.S. gas demand. At the pump, meanwhile, gas prices rose to a new record over $3.94 a gallon. Light, sweet crude for July delivery rose $2.18 to settle at $131.03 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after spending the morning swinging between gains and losses. At its lows, oil was down nearly $3 a barrel, compounding a $3.34 drop in crude Tuesday. It passed $135 for the first time last week.

Exxon Mobil boss gets to keep 2 titles

DALLAS — Exxon Mobil Corp. chairman and chief executive officer Rex Tillerson will retain both of those jobs at the world's biggest publicly traded oil company after a highly public, Rockefeller-led push to separate the roles failed again Wednesday. Stripping Tillerson of the chairman's job in favor of an independent director was the main focus of the company's annual shareholder meeting at a downtown symphony hall. In the end, the measure got support of only 39.5 percent of shareholders, slightly less than last year's 40 percent, despite a hard push by descendants of John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Exxon Mobil predecessor Standard Oil Corp. A variety of institutional investors in the U.S. and abroad also lined up behind the proposal.

Ford plans involuntary layoffs of salary workers

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. plans to conduct involuntary layoffs of salaried employees by August as part of a restructuring in the face of slumping sales and record-high gas prices, a spokeswoman said Wednesday. Marcey Evans said the company hasn't yet determined how many white-collar jobs will be cut. But she said that unlike previous rounds of layoffs in recent years, employees won't be offered voluntary buyout packages with financial or early retirement incentives. Evans said the company wants the cuts completed by Aug. 1, which is not enough time to roll out voluntary offers and wait for employees to accept them.

TiVo's first-quarter profit quadruples

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Digital video recorder pioneer TiVo reported Wednesday that its first-quarter net income more than quadrupled as operating costs, most notably for marketing and research, declined. Alviso-based TiVo Inc. earned $3.6 million, or 4 cents per share, for the three months ended April 30, up 336 percent from $835,000, or 1 cent per share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue for services and technology totaled $54.9 million, down from $58.1 million for the same period last year.

Yahoo CEO: Company is not 'under siege'

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Yahoo Inc. chief executive officer Jerry Yang is rejecting the media's characterization of his company as "under siege." Yang's comments Wednesday come as the Internet pioneer faces the threat of mutiny from shareholders unhappy with the way its board handled a takeover offer from Microsoft Inc. earlier this year. Speaking at The Wall Street Journal's "D: All Things Digital" conference in Carlsbad, Calif., Yang says he stands by his handling of the deal. He says it ultimately fell apart because of concern over regulatory and other issues as well as over price disagreements.

Fed governor Mishkin to step down this summer

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve governor Frederic Mishkin will leave at the end of August and return to teaching at Columbia University, the central bank announced Wednesday. His departure means yet another empty seat on the Fed as it battles housing, credit and financial debacles. Mishkin, a Fed board member since Sept. 5, 2006, submitted his resignation to President Bush. His exit leaves the Fed with just four of its seven board seats filled.

— From wire reports