News In Brief

Xerox, in reporting a $167 million third-quarter loss, said it was planning a $1 billion cost-cutting program that includes layoffs and the sale of up to $4 billion in assets. A company spokesman would not specify how many jobs might be cut, but an analyst for Goldman, Sachs & Co. estimated the number as high as 5,000. The business machines maker said it was looking at selling its China operations, part of its ownership in a joint venture with Fuji, and its interest in spinoffs such as ContentGuard and Inxight. The company said it also was searching for investors in its inkjet printer business and for a noncompetitive partner for its research laboratory in Palo Alto, Calif.

More than 700 jobs - almost half of them in its North American operations - will be eliminated, Tenneco Automotive Inc. announced. The Lake Forest, Ill.-based company estimated it will realize $45 million in annual savings as a result of the plan.

Plans for a privatization sale that could raise almost $9 billion were announced by Deutsche Post, Europe's largest mail service. The sale of shares, scheduled for Nov. 20, is intended to divest the German government of up to one-third of its ownership in the so-called "Yellow Giant," which employs 301,000 people. Deutsche Post also owns a bank and interests in freight- and parcel-forwarding services Air Express International, Danzas, and DHL.

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