LOCAL BUSINESS
Belden owner in deal
Westfield Group, the Australian-based world’s biggest shopping center operator by assets, said it sold half shares in six malls in Florida to O’Connor Capital Partners for about $700 million.
Westfield, owner of the Belden Village retail mall in Stark County, agreed to sell a 49.9 percent interest in the malls at book value, valuing the joint venture with the New York-based real estate investment and development company at about $1.3 billion, the Sydney-based company said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange. Westfield will continue to manage, develop and lease the properties, it said.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
T-Mobile changes billing
T-Mobile USA, the struggling No. 4 cellphone company, is ditching plans centered on familiar two-year contracts in favor of selling phones on installment plans.
In practice, the phone-buying experience is not that much different from before. For instance, someone who wants a Samsung Galaxy S III would pay $70 upfront and then $90 per month for unlimited calling, text and data. That monthly fee includes $20 to pay off the cost of the phone over two years.
But by separating the cost of the phone from the service, T-Mobile is making its plans and upgrade options easier to understand. When the phone is paid off, the $20 fee in that example disappears.
AUTO PARTS
Continental makes forecast
Continental AG, Europe’s second-largest maker of auto parts including tires, expects sales growth to accelerate next year if economic conditions don’t deteriorate.
Continental is “likely to post high single-digit growth in sales again in 2014,” the Hanover, Germany-based company said in its annual report Monday.
Continental stuck with its forecasts for 2013 even as the Europe auto market declined more than industry executives had anticipated in the first quarter. The manufacturer expects sales growth of 5 percent this year and targets adjusted earnings before interest and taxes above 10 percent of revenue.
Continental, the region’s second-largest tire maker, has partly avoided the effects of Europe’s recession by following Volkswagen AG, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Daimler AG into growing markets such as China and the U.S. Focus on high-value parts such as fuel-injection technology, safety sensors and emergency braking systems has also won high-end customers willing to pay more for the products.
TECHNOLOGY
Yahoo buys company
Yahoo Inc. said it’s buying mobile-product company Summly to simplify how consumers access information. Summly, created by 15-year-old Nick D’Aloisio in London, allows users of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to more easily find the news and information that’s important to them, Yahoo said in a blog posting.
“Most articles and Web pages were formatted for browsing with mouse clicks,” Yahoo said. “The ability to skim them on a phone or a tablet can be a real challenge. We want easier ways to identify what’s important to us.” D’Aloisio and the Summly team will join Yahoo in the coming weeks. Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed.
ADVERTISING
Ford issues apology
The Indian unit of Ford Motor Co. has apologized for advertisements decried as demeaning to women, including one depicting Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi with a trio of bound women in the trunk of a car.
A Ford India spokeswoman said the company is investigating whether anyone at the automaker ever saw the print ads, which were never used commercially but appeared over the weekend on a website showcasing creative advertising.
The ads caused an uproar online and came just after India passed a new law on violence against women following a fatal gang rape of a student on a bus that prompted mass protests and spotlighted the status of women in India.
Featuring Ford’s logo, one ad showed three women bound and gagged in the trunk of an Indian-made compact, the Ford Figo, with Berlusconi smiling from the driver’s seat alongside the slogan “Leave your worries behind with the Figo’s extra-large boot.”
Similar ads featured Paris Hilton apparently kidnapping reality television rivals the Kardashian sisters — all three sisters tied up and one in a bikini — and Formula One driver Michael Schumacher abducting his male racing competition.
Ford said it regrets the incident, calling the images “contrary to the standards of professionalism and decency within Ford.” The ads were created at advertising agency JWT India and appeared on the website adsoftheworld.com late Friday.
Compiled from staff and wire reports