Business Briefs
February 26, 2003
Index Indicates Economic Awakening
Germans received some badly needed good news about their beleaguered economy on Tuesday. The Ifo industrial confidence index for western Germany, a major indicator of the general economic climate, edged up in February for the second month in a row. This rekindled hopes that the worst might be over for Europe's biggest economy. The findings come after the same Institute for Economic Research cut its 2003 growth forecast for Germany last week to 0.9 percent compared with an earlier prognosis of 1.1 percent. Ifo President Hans-Werner Sinn told Reuters on Tuesday that the new survey signaled a tentative recovery.
Bayer Tries to Settle More Lawsuits
Bayer, the German chemical and pharmaceutical company, is working to settle 500 lawsuits filed in connection with an anti-cholesterol drug that led to at least 100 deaths and serious side effects in other users. An attorney for the company, Philip Beck, said on Tuesday that 7,800 suits had been filed over the drug Lipobay. Of those cases, Bayer has reached settlements in 450 cases, Beck said. The company is now working on 500 more cases in which patients complained of the negative side effects, he said. In most of the other cases, no side effects were reported, he said. The drug was marketed as Baycol in the United States. In the wake of the latest news, Bayer's stock price fell 14 percent to €12.28 ($13.19) on Tuesday, hitting its lowest level in more than 10 years.
Vodafone Chief to Be Called in Trial
German prosecutors who will conduct a trial into the severance packages received by Mannesmann executives as part of the Vodafone takeover are expected to call Christopher Gent, the chief executive of the mobile phone operator. Vodafone won the fight in early 2000 in a deal that cost around €190 billion ($203 billion at today's rate). But prosecutors in Düsseldorf. questioned whether the severance packages that exceeded €100 million were legal.The German prosecutors confirmed last week that they had charged six people who could be jailed for up to two years if convicted. The defendants include the former head of Mannesmann, Klaus Esser (photo); Josef Ackermann, the chief executive of Deutsche Bank; and union leader Klaus Zwickel.
BMW, Volkswagen Make Fortune List
Despite the heavy economic downturn in Germany, BMW and Volkswagen have been named by Fortune magazine as being among the world's most prosperous companies. BMW was even named the most prestigious company in Europe. The U.S.publication Fortune updates its assessment of the world's largest companies each year.