Fast-food giant taps Yao Ming as spokesman

McDonald’s Corp. on Thursday signed a marketing deal with Yao Ming, the towering Chinese basketball star who plays for the NBA’s Houston Rockets, in its latest move to tie its brand to a celebrity with youthful appeal.

McDonald’s said the 7-foot-6-inch, Ming, pictured Thursday in Los Angeles, would be a global company spokesman. His role will include some television advertising as well as personal appearances, the world’s largest fast-food company said.

Federal Reserve

Greenspan pushes Social Security reduction

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Thursday that Congress should reinstate budget rules that would force lawmakers to cover the estimated $1 trillion that it will cost to make President Bush’s tax cuts permanent.

Greenspan said he favored reductions in government spending to pay for making the tax cuts permanent and suggested that one place to look should be in reducing the Social Security benefits paid to retirees.

Manufacturing

Goodyear to refinance

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. on Thursday said it planned to refinance long-term debt to raise almost $650 million to pay off loans due next year.

The announcement came a day after the world’s largest tire maker saw its stock plummet on news that the Securities and Exchange Commission was formally investigating accounting problems.

Goodyear, which has a Topeka plant, said Thursday that it planned to use proceeds from the private sale of senior secured notes due in 2006 and beyond to prepay a $538 million loan due in 2005.