Kroger reopens stores

Kroger grocery stores reopened Monday in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky, just days after an agreement was reached in a labor dispute that had shuttered the stores for two months.

Employees worked around the clock to restock shelves and greeted shoppers with coffee, cookies and doughnuts.

Some 3,300 union workers at 44 stores in the three states went on strike Oct. 13 over health-care benefits and other issues. Kroger closed all the stores during the strike.

Kroger still must contend with labor disputes in Indiana and southern California. Last week, the company reported a 57 percent drop in third quarter earnings, primarily because of labor problems.

Technology

IBM slated to move software jobs overseas

IBM Corp. plans to move up to several thousand skilled software jobs from the United States to India, China and other countries, which could amount to one of the biggest such actions in the technology industry.

IBM documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal said about 4,700 programming jobs could be shifted overseas to save costs, a growing industry trend known as “offshoring.”

More than 900 people are already scheduled to be told of the move in the first half of 2004, while another 3,700 jobs have been identified as having the “potential to move offshore,” the Journal said.

The division affected is IBM’s Application Management Services group, part of Big Blue’s huge technology services division. The IBM facilities where workers could be replaced include offices in Dallas; Southbury, Conn.; Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Raleigh, N.C.; and Boulder, Colo.

Retail

McDonald’s to slice pizza

McDonald’s Corp. is getting out of the pizza business but keeping burritos, meatloaf and chicken pot pies on its plate in the U.S. market as it slims down its involvement in partner brands.

The restaurant giant on Monday announced the sale of Donatos Pizzeria back to the chain’s founder and said it was retaining its Chipotle Mexican Grill and Boston Market businesses in the United States while discontinuing development of all nonMcDonald’s brands abroad.

Telecommunications

Sprint boosts estimate

Sprint Corp. slightly boosted its yearlong earnings estimate for its wireless division on Monday.

The Overland Park-based telecommunications firm said it now expected Sprint PCS losses for 2003, adjusted for one-time items, including a charge related to layoffs announced last month, to be at the low end of previous guidance of 43 cents to 48 cents.

The company reaffirmed its guidance for its wireline division, Sprint FON, of $1.43 to $1.45 for the year, excluding one-time items. Sprint also reiterated previous guidance for full-year revenues in the FON group to decline about 7 percent.