UPI NewsTrack Business

OPEC facing low prices, demand fall-off

CAIRO, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, meeting Saturday in Cairo, say the informal talks are unlikely to result in production cuts.

Any such move to deal with the plunging price of oil -- $147 per barrel in July and now hovering around $50 -- probably won't be made until a larger round of talks are held next month in Algeria, oil ministers told the BBC.

OPEC leaders say they need more time to study quickly changing data, which continue to show a plunging demand unaffected by earlier cuts. Some OPEC members, notably countries such as Nigeria and Ecuador, say they can't cut production any further because tax revenue drop-offs are blowing holes in their national budgets, The Wall Street Journal reported.

PFC Energy analyst David Kirsch said even Saudi Arabia can't maintain economic stability or its budget plans if oil prices fall and stay under $50 a barrel.

Some analysts told the Journal, however, that OPEC mostly seems powerless to stop the oil demand fall-off from industrialized nations mired in the global financial crisis and economic downturn. They said global demand could turn negative both this year and next.

Work begins on China's tallest building

SHANGHAI, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Construction on China's tallest building, the 2,000-foot-tall Shanghai Center, got underway Saturday, officials said.

The project, when finished in 2014, will surpass Shanghai's two most well-known skyscrapers: the 1,380-foot-tall Jin Mao Tower completed in 1999, and the 1,615-foot-tall Shanghai World Financial Center, which was finished in August, the state-run Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.

Costing more than $2.2 billion, the Shanghai Center Construction and Development Co. Ltd., the building's developer, said it is going up despite the global economic crisis gripping the world's economies.

"The Shanghai Center is expected to increase domestic demand and economic growth amid the worldwide financial crisis," Kong Qingwei, Shanghai Center's board chairman, told Xinhua.

Designed by the U.S. firm Gensler, the building will twist as it rises and will be surrounded by an outer glass wall. It will also feature nine gardens between the main building and the wall, and will include a public park, the news agency said.

Icahn ups Yahoo stake with share buy

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Billionaire investor Carl Ichan has upped his ownership stake in U.S. Internet technology company Yahoo Inc., buying 6.8 million shares, documents show.

U.S. Securities Exchange Commission documents revealed Ichan, a board member of the Sunnyvale, Calif., Web search engine and Internet portal, spent approximately $67 million to purchase the shares at $9.88 each, increasing his ownership stake to just under 5 percent of Yahoo's outstanding shares, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Analysts said Ichan's buy marks the first time he has significantly expanded his stake in Yahoo Inc. since joining its board as part of his proxy fight for control of the company. Sources told the Journal that Icahn believes Yahoo's stock is undervalued and is hoping that a stalled Web search deal with Microsoft Corp. may eventually be done.

Other Yahoo board members are concentrating on the search to replace departed chief executive Jerry Yang, and have begun interviewing potential candidates, including the leaders of some non-Internet technology companies, sources told the newspaper.

Aon closes Benfield buy, warns of layoffs

CHICAGO, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. insurance broker Aon Corp. has completed its acquisition of a British firm and will lay off as many as 700 employers, company officials say.

Aon, based in Chicago, finished its acquisition of London's Benfield Group Ltd. Friday for $1.43 billion and said it was launching a "global restructuring plan" expected to eliminate between 500 and 700 jobs worldwide, the Chicago Tribune reported Saturday.

Company officials revealed the restructuring is expected to result in cumulative charges of $185 million spread out over three years but will also generate annual savings projected to reach $122 million per year by 2011, the Tribune said.

An Aon spokesman said the layoffs will happen both in Europe and the United States, primarily affecting back office functions rather than brokers. The spokesman couldn't say how many jobs would be eliminated in the Chicago area.