Subscribe
Jobs
Cars
Real Estate
Apts
Classifieds
Shop
A bankrupt auto parts maker with plants in Bluffton, Fremont and Edon, Ohio, announced Tuesday it had agreed to sell some of its North American assets to a new company. It was unclear, however, whether all three area plants are part of the deal.
Plymouth, Mich.-based Metaldyne Corp. said in a statement it would sell “certain powertrain and other operating assets” to a new subsidiary of RHJ International. The statement said the new company will focus on powertrain parts, which are made in Bluffton and Fremont. The Edon plant makes chassis products, according to the Metaldyne Web site.
Company officials couldn’t be reached Tuesday evening.
The Web site says 187 people work at the Bluffton plant, 168 at the Edon plant and 164 at the Fremont plant. But in April, the company said it laid off 67 from the Fremont plant.
RHJ International also owns Asahi Tec, a Japan-based parts maker that owns Metaldyne.
Local firm Prairie Quest Consulting has added seven workers to its 33-member staff in the past two months.
The company, a state and federal government contractor that offers project management and other services, hired six workers last month to electronically scan fingerprints for the state Department of Child Services, said Amber Smith, human resources director. The average annual salary for the positions is $25,000, she said.
Prairie Quest Consulting’s partner, L-1 Identity Solutions, received a two-year state contract to check fingerprints as part of the background check for prospective employees, foster parents and adoptive parents.
Prairie Quest Consulting also hired an additional senior medical case coordinator this month to review National Guard medical cases, Smith said. The position was added to Prairie Quest’s current contract. Those jobs pay an average of $45,000 a year, she said.
Best Buy Co. reported Tuesday that its first-quarter profit fell 15 percent – even as Circuit City, a key competitor, closed the last of its stores – because recession-weary shoppers were still limiting big-ticket purchases.
The earnings beat Wall Street expectations, and the nation’s largest consumer electronics seller maintained its annual profit outlook.
The company earned $153 million, or 36 cents a share, in the quarter that ended May 30. That compares with profit of $179 million, or 43 cents a share, a year earlier when federal stimulus checks briefly spurred consumer spending.
Adjusted profit was 42 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected 34 cents a share.
MySpace said Tuesday it is cutting nearly 30 percent of its workforce – about 420 jobs – to become more efficient and bring its staffing more in line with that of its more popular online rival, Facebook.
The move comes less than two months after the unit of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. hired former Facebook executive Owen Van Natta, 39, as its new chief executive.
It also comes a day after data from tracking firm comScore show Facebook has caught up with MySpace in monthly U.S. visitors for the first time.
