Business & Finance

American Airlines will not file for bankruptcy, but won't raise wages next year either, chief executive Donald Carty said Monday. At a meeting with employees in St. Louis, Carty said the carrier needs to reduce annual costs by $4 billion, and asked for suggestions. "Everything is on the table," he said, including job cuts. The nation's largest airline lost more than $3 billion this year.

Cadbury Schweppes will pay $4.2 billion for the Adams chewing gum/cough drop unit of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc., the companies announced. Analysts said the deal should put the London-based buyer in a strong position to compete with gum industry leader Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., which controls 31 percent of the global market. Adams's brands, which have a 26 percent market share, include Dentyne, Trident, Chiclets, Clorets, Bubblicious, Certs breath fresheners, and Halls cough drops.

A proposed deal to forge the US's largest steelmaker may fall apart due to intervention by a federal pension agency, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which takes over underfunded programs, is set to assume $3.7 billion in obligations for 67,000 Bethlehem Steel employees this week. But the bankrupt company warns that could scuttle merger talks with International Steel, by discouraging highly paid veterans from early retirement.

In a deal valued at $1.88 billion, the government of Taiwan auctioned off a 13.5 percent stake in Chunghwa Telecom Ltd. to a consortium of private investors. The state-owned company offers domestic and international phone service and is an Internet service provider.

In a further blow to bankrupt Kmart, the discount retailer said the New York Stock Exchange will suspend trading in its common stock tomorrow and begin delisting procedures with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Kmart shares closed at 58 cents Monday, well below the $1 minimum monthly average required by the NYSE.

Electrolux, the world's largest maker of household appliances, said it will cut more than 5,000 jobs over the next two years. The move also involves closing an air-conditioner plant in Edison, N.J., and putting a factory in Australia up for sale. The Stockholm-based company markets products under its own brand, plus Frigidaire, Eureka, Weed Eater, and Husqvarna.