Business briefs 03-02/2013

First Posted:

Best Buy narrows losses

Best Buy Co. lost less money in the fourth quarter as efforts by new CEO Hubert Joly to make the company more efficient showed glimmers of paying off.

The struggling electronics chain also said Friday that it did not receive a buyout bid from its co-founder Richard Schulze by the deadline Thursday, ending one question mark that had been hovering over the Minneapolis company.

The retailer’s fourth-quarter results beat expectations, but Best Buy gave a cautious outlook on the first quarter because it is ramping up investments and the timing of some sales has changed from last year.

Best Buy has cut jobs, invested in training employees and started matching online prices.

U.S. revenue in stores open at least 14 months rose 0.9 percent, the best performance in 11 quarters, Joly pointed out in an interview with The Associated Press.

Construction spending dips

Spending on U.S. construction projects fell in January by the largest amount in 18 months as home construction stalled and spending on government projects fell to the lowest level in more than six years.

The dip was viewed as a temporary setback with construction expected to keep moving higher this year.

Construction spending fell 2.1 percent in January compared with December, when spending had risen 1.1 percent. It was the biggest one-month decline since July 2011, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Residential construction stalled in January with no gain in activity following a 1.7 percent rise in December.

USAID embezzler sentenced

A former contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for embezzling more than $1 million from a program to address global health problems like AIDS.

Mark Adams received a 51-month sentence, and his wife, Latasha Bell, received five years of probation, with the first six months to be served under home confinement. Both had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud last year.

The couple, of Fort Washington, Md., admitted to using the money to renovate their home and purchase a luxury car.