Sprint Nextel Corp. on Monday said it will cut 2,000 to 2,500 jobs, mostly before the end of the year, as it keeps losing subscribers.

The wireless carrier in Overland Park, Kan., said the goal is to cut labor costs by at least $350 million a year.

Sprint plans to take a charge of $60 million to $80 million in the current quarter for severance and other costs associated with the job cuts.

Sprint shares rose on the announcement, closing up 58 cents, or 20 percent, at $3.43.

The company started the year with about 56,000 employees. It then cut 8,000 jobs in the first half of the year. It is also transferring 6,000 employees to LM Ericsson AB, a Swedish contractor that is taking over management of Sprint’s network.

Sprint has been seeing subscribers defect to larger carriers AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless for a while. In the quarter that ended in September, it lost a net 545,000 subscribers, and revenue slipped 9 percent from a year ago.

Auto supplier Lear exits bankruptcy

Auto parts maker Lear Corp. emerged Monday from four months in bankruptcy protection, saying it has a healthier balance sheet, less debt and a backlog of new business.

A federal judge approved Lear’s reorganization plan last week, paving the way for its emergence from bankruptcy. The Southfield, Mich., maker of automotive seats and electronics expects its new shares – under the “LEA” symbol – will begin regular trading later this week on the New York Stock Exchange. Lear’s old shares were canceled.

Under the reorganization plan, Lear’s lenders forgave $2.8 billion in debt in exchange for equity. Lear said it now has less than $1 billion in debt at competitive interest rates with no near-term maturity.

Lear said it has $1 billion in cash on hand and $1.4 billion in sales lined up through 2012 despite the automotive industry downturn.

Berkshire to sell stake in 2 railroads

Warren Buffett’s company will sell its stake in Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern railroads before it completes its $26.3 billion acquisition of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. railroad.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s plan to sell those stocks was revealed in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

According to a transcript of a conference call, BNSF’s CEO Matt Rose told employees of his railroad that Berkshire plans to sell its 9.6 million shares of Union Pacific Corp. and 1.9 million shares of Norfolk Southern Corp.

Berkshire’s holdings represented 2 percent of Union Pacific and less than 1 percent of Norfolk Southern.

Berkshire officials did not immediately respond to questions on Monday.

Google book deal deadline extended

A judge has given Google Inc. more time to revise a legal settlement that has drawn government scrutiny because it would give the Internet search leader the digital rights to millions of out-of-print books.

Under a change approved Monday, Google and groups representing U.S. authors and publishers now have until Friday to change an agreement reached more than a year ago. It marked the latest twist in a copyright lawsuit that the authors and publishers filed against Google’s digital book project four years ago.