Telecommunications: Lucent to cut work force

Saddled with billions in losses, Lucent Technologies said Friday that it would eliminate 10,000 more jobs by March.

The companywide cutbacks at the telecommunications equipment maker will bring its work force to 35,000, down from a peak of 153,000 just a few years ago.

Lucent and its rivals are facing weak demand for telecommunications gear.

The company also said it expected to report a bigger loss than previously anticipated for its recently ended fourth quarter at least $3.2 billion. That would bring its losses for the fiscal year to at least $12 billion.

“It feels like we’re trying to fly a 747 through a storm and change the engines at the same time,” said Lucent chief executive Pat Russo.

Accounting Scandal: WorldCom case brings additional guilty plea

The former controller of WorldCom Inc. pleaded guilty Friday to a Mississippi securities fraud charge in the telecommunication company’s multibillion-dollar accounting scandal.

The Circuit Court plea from David Myers, 44, follows his guilty plea to similar charges in New York federal court last month.

Myers faces up to 10 years in prison on the most serious federal charge and up to five years and a fine of $5,000 on the state charge.

Myers and Scott Sullivan, the former chief financial officer at WorldCom, were arrested in August. Prosecutors allege they directed employees to falsify balance sheets to hide more than $3.8 billion in expenses, causing earnings to be overstated by $5 billion.

Arkansas City: Bankrupt beef plant begins search for buyers

The trustee overseeing liquidation of Future Beef Operations is seeking bids from groups interested in the company’s Arkansas City plant.

Future Beef was forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization proceedings in March, just seven months after it opened the plant. The bankruptcy reorganization was converted to Chapter 7 liquidation on Aug. 16 the same day the plant closed, leaving about 900 workers without jobs.

Bids to buy the plant will be accepted until Friday “or such later date as trustee may determine,” said Jeffrey Hill, the U.S. trustee in the FBO liquidation.

Energy: Aquila sells stake in New Zealand firm

Kansas City, Mo.-based Aquila Inc. said Friday that it sold its 70 percent stake in UnitedNetworks Ltd., a New Zealand energy company, to Vector Ltd. for about $503 million.

The sale is part of the energy and risk-management company’s ongoing effort to sell $1 billion or more in assets to strengthen its balance sheet and credit ratings.

News of the deal sent Aquila’s shares surging 21 percent, or 64 cents, to close Friday at $3.74 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Under the agreement, Vector, a New Zealand electricity-networks company, purchased all the shares of UnitedNetworks that had been held by Aquila’s UtiliCorp N.Z. Ltd. unit.

Aquila’s share of the net proceeds, estimated at about $362 million, will be used to retire debt related to its acquisition of UnitedNetworks and other utilities in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, the company said.