Business News brief

First Posted:

Comcast wins appeal

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned a rule that said a cable TV company could not serve more than 30 percent of the nation’s subscribers. The verdict Friday was a victory for the largest cable company, Comcast Corp., which has 25 percent share and sued to block the rule.
It was an embarrassing decision for the Federal Communications Commission, which had already seen the cap rejected and imposed it again. Friday’s ruling called the limit “arbitrary and capricious,” and threw it out.
Ford: August sales good
A top Ford executive expects industrywide U.S. auto sales to rise for the first time in more than two years this month, thanks largely to the government’s Cash for Clunkers program.
Sales may have risen as high as 13 million units on an annualized basis during August, Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas, told reporters on Friday.
Retail sales at Ford Motor Co. in August have already surpassed last year’s levels with a weekend still to go, he said.
Automakers are scheduled to report monthly sales on Tuesday.
Whirlpool cutting jobs
Whirlpool Corp. announced Friday that it will close its refrigerator factory in Evansville, Ind., by next year and cut 1,100 jobs as it continues a push to trim excess capacity.
Whirlpool said it will move the production of refrigerators with freezers on top to a company location in Mexico, where they are cheaper to produce. Ice makers produced in Evansville will be moved to a yet-to-be-decided location.
The jobs will be eliminated in mid-2010.
Hacker gets 25 years
A computer hacker accused of masterminding one of the largest cases of identity theft in U.S. history agreed Friday to plead guilty and serve up to 25 years in federal prison for his crimes.
Albert Gonzalez of Miami was charged with conspiracy, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges in federal courts in New York and Boston. Court documents filed in federal court in Boston indicate the 28-year-old Gonzalez agreed to plead guilty to 19 counts and combine the two cases in federal court in Massachusetts.