Business & Finance

Bankrupt Winn-Dixie Stores, a largely Southeastern supermarket chain, said it will cut 22,000 jobs and close about a third of its 913 outlets. The Jacksonville, Fla., company will terminate operations in Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and scale back in neighboring states. Stores that can't be sold will be shuttered.

Coca-Cola finalized a deal with antitrust regulators in Europe that ends six years of investigation into its marketing practices at the behest of rival PepsiCo Inc. The soft-drink giant agreed to stop forcing retailers in European Union member countries who wanted only its top-selling products to buy those that are less popular as well, such as Vanilla Coke and Sprite. Among other terms, Coca-Cola also must allow retailers to use 20 percent of the space in its coolers to stock competing brands. The deal is binding until Dec. 31, 2010, and Coca-Cola can be fined 10 percent of its worldwide profits for breaking it, the European Commission announced.

A deal to build a $12 billion mill, the largest direct foreign investment in India's history, was signed by steelmaking giant POSCO. The South Korean company said construction would begin in 2007. It did not discuss a completion date on grounds that the timing would depend on demand for its products. Last month, POSCO officials signed an agreement in Brazil to study the feasibility of building a mill there.

Ford Motor Co. said it will cut more white-collar jobs, laying off 1,700 of its salaried personnel. This is in addition to 1,000 layoffs announced in April. The company, which also lowered its yearly earnings forecast, said the downsizing comes as its healthcare benefit costs are rising and vehicle production and demand for its trucks and SUVs are falling.

Troubled Krispy Kreme Doughnuts ousted six executives, but declined to identify them. Stock in the Winston-Salem, N.C., company, which has been the target of investigations into the way it accounted for franchise buy-backs and sluggish sales, has plummeted from $50 a share two years ago to $5.05 earlier this year.

The world's largest operator of seaports, Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., announced a sale of bonds worth $1.2 billion. The Hong Kong company has not sold bonds in almost two years and may want the proceeds to pay down debt or for operating capital, Bloomberg.com reported.

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