Here is a look at some of Tuesday's top business stories:
A Ford back in the driver's seat
DETROIT, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Ford Motor Co. CEO Jacques Nasser resigned Tuesday and was replaced in a senior management shakeup by company chairman William Clay "Bill" Ford Jr., the great-grandson of founder Henry Ford, the company said.
"We need to be a company that the world can look to in doing things right," said Ford, who remains chairman of the board.
"I am both proud and determined to lead the company forward as we face some difficult challenges," Ford said. "There is nothing more important to me than the continued success of the Ford Motor Co. We want to have an even greater impact on the world in our next 100 years than we did in our last 100."
Nasser's ouster followed a power struggle that saw the 33-year company veteran relinquish part of his day-to-day duties to Bill Ford in July amid worsening losses, quality problems, the Ford Explorer-Firestone tire debacle and 5,000 white-collar layoffs.
A $692 million loss in the third-quarter, the second successive quarter of losses, prompted the board to cancel bonuses for top executives and suspend the quarterly dividend, displeasing the Ford family, which controls 40 percent of the voting stock.
Nasser, 53, officially took early retirement after the board of directors approved the management changes making the 44-year-old Ford the first family member to run the world's second-largest automaker since his late uncle, Henry Ford II, resigned in 1979.
Bill Ford Jr., an ardent environmentalist who holds degrees from Princeton and MIT, became chairman Jan. 1, 1999, after nearly two decades working a wide range of jobs from product planning analyst to manufacturing, labor, sales, marketing and finance in the United States and Europe.
Nasser, born in Lebanon and raised in Australia, started working at Ford in 1968 and had been company president and CEO since Jan 1, 1999. Nasser, who earned $16 million last year including stock options, was known as a cost-cutter who planned to remake Ford's conservative culture through youth and e-commerce initiatives to reflect the diversity of Ford's customers.
His last appearance as CEO was Monday afternoon at a Detroit assembly plant where zero-emission electric-powered vehicles were to be built.
US Airways has heavy 3Q loss
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (UPI) --US Airways reported a net loss Tuesday of $766 million for the quarter just ended, with the airline hard hit by the ongoing effects of the Sept. 11 attacks on the industry.
US Airways earnings results were depressed by one-time charges of $712 million, including a $309 million restructuring charge in order to cover the nearly 25 percent cut in capacity and the 11,000 job cuts in the wake of the September terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Also, this pre-tax charge included a $217 million write-down on aircraft values after having grounded some of its fleet.
These charges, however, were partially offset by $331 million in bailout money from Uncle Sam, as US Airways share of the emergency package established for the troubled industry.
Last year, the company reported a loss of $30 million for this same economic period.
According to an announcement from US Airways, the company also reported that operating revenues fell 16.5 per cent to $2 billion, in large part from the downward pressure on airfares, but also from the drop in traffic.
US Airways chief executive, Rakesh Gangwal, said that the airline's "core structure remains sound and provides a solid foundation for future growth".
Industry analysts have conjectured, however, that this might be the first major airline casualty of the current airline shakeout.
According to Gangwal, the airline expects to end the year with cash reserves between $800 million to $900 million, based on cost cutting and an increase in revenues
Also, among other cost cutting, US Airways has negotiated the deferral of three out of the 12 Airbus A321 planes that were slated for delivery starting next year.
Town Hall forum on NYC's financial district
NEW YORK, Oct.30 (UPI) -- The Museum of American Financial History is planning a mid-November town-meeting/forum in lower Manhattan to address the future of New York City's financial district in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center towers.
The financial district of New York not only took a heavy hit from from the destruction of the Trade Center buildings, a massive business hub, but also in the deaths of more than 5,000 people, many in the financial industry.
The forum, hosted in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution, will look at NYC's financial district in the historical context of the resilient and often hopeful culture of Wall Street, according to planners.
"Our role today is to offer a platform and a context to help our community collect its emotions, and to draw strength from our shared history," said Brian Thompson, the Museum of Financial History's executive director.
The town meeting, moderated by CNN senior financial editor Myron Kandel, will take place in the auditorium of the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, home to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian George Gustav Heye Center.
"Wall Street is more than a trading venue," says Dr. Nancy Groce, a curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. "From the late 18th century, when New Yorkers founded an exchange in the shade of a buttonwood tree, to today's technologically sophisticated trading floors, the heart of Wall Street has always been its people -- generations of financial workers who have established and maintained a culture and community all their own."
The Museum of American Financial History, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is the nation's only independent public museum dedicated to the "American Dream" story of opportunity and entrepreneurship in the free market.
For additional information, visit the Museum's website at: financialhistory.org
