HP cuts costs ahead of goal

        One month after closing its $19 billion buyout of Compaq Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. is slashing costs ahead of schedule and will exceed its publicly stated goals for trimming overhead, chief executive Carly Fiorina said Tuesday.

        At a daylong meeting with financial analysts in Boston that was broadcast over the Internet, Ms. Fiorina said HP still plans to hack 15,000 jobs from its 150,000-person work force, with 10,000 cuts coming before Nov. 1 and the rest in fiscal 2003.
       

GM chief to retire

        General Motors Corp. chairman Jack Smith said Tuesday he will step down in April 2003 when he reaches age 65, in accordance with the world's biggest automaker's retirement policy.

        Making his announcement at the end of the company's annual shareholder's meeting, Mr. Smith, who has been chairman since 1996, said, “It has been an honor for me to serve General Motors over four decades.”

        Mr. Smith said he did not know who his successor would be.
       

Pilots offer proposal

        US Airways Group Inc.'s pilots union proposed an average 26 percent pay cut and savings of $328 million annually to help the carrier return to profitability.

        The Air Line Pilots Association's counterproposal to the seventh-largest U.S. carrier would reverse two pay raises since May 2001 and let the airline fly as many as 315 small jets, up from 140 now. US Airways last month said it wanted $595 million a year in savings from the pilots.
       

Qwest plan voted down

        Qwest Communications International Inc. retirees on Tuesday failed to rally shareholders behind two proposals for new restrictions on how executives are paid at the struggling telephone company.

        Only 27 percent of Qwest's shares were cast in support of a proposal that would have required shareholder approval of severance packages for top executives.
       

Hershey to hire temps

        Hershey Foods Corp. said it would hire temporary workers to help boost operations after contract negotiations between the company and the union representing 2,700 striking chocolate factory workers broke down after 21 hours.

        The company said it would seek to start operations at one of the idled Hershey plants and would hire temporary workers at another plant, where production already had resumed using salaried employees.

Associates, kin burned in Erpenbeck scheme
Area a big winner in '90s prosperity
Tourism bureaus join forces for summer campaign
Investing game puts stock in learning
Andersen defense rests case
Long-awaited development now going up in Carthage
Tyco tycoon charged with tax evasion
Industry notes: Banking
Tristate Summary
Business Digest
What's the Buzz?