Business Briefs

Meta Platforms Inc, the parent for Facebook, is slashing another 10,000 jobs and will not fill 5,000 open positions as the social media pioneer cuts costs.

The company announced 11,000 job cuts in November, about 13 per cent of its workforce at the time.

Early last month, Meta posted falling profits and its third consecutive quarter of declining revenue.

The company said Tuesday it will reduce the size of its recruiting team and make further cuts in its tech groups in late April, and then its business groups in late May.

“This will be tough and there’s no way around that,” said CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “It will mean saying goodbye to talented and passionate colleagues who have been part of our success.”

The Biden administration has sued to block JetBlue Airways from buying Spirit Airlines, saying the deal would reduce competition and drive up airfares for consumers.

The United States Justice Department said the tie-up would especially hurt cost-conscious travellers who depend on Spirit, a budget carrier, to find cheaper options than they can find on JetBlue and other airlines.

JetBlue and Spirit had anticipated the government challenge for weeks. The government had previously requested additional documents and depositions about JetBlue’s proposed US$3.8-billion purchase of Spirit, the nation’s biggest budget airline. Negotiations over a possible settlement failed.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Limited reported a loss of US$500.2 million in its fourth quarter.

The Miami-based company said it had a loss of US$1.96 per share. Adjusted for non-recurring costs and to extinguish debt, losses were US$1.12 per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of US$1.37 per share.

The cruise operator posted revenue of US$2.6 billion in the period, which also met Street forecasts.

For the year, the company reported a loss of US$2.16 billion, or US$8.45 per share. Revenue was reported as US$8.84 billion.

Panama’s government said it reached an agreement with a local subsidiary of a Canadian mining company that will allow it to operate for 20 years more.

The government had ordered the company to cease operations at its huge open-pit copper mine in December, after it failed to sign a new contract outlining substantially higher payments.

Minera Panama, a subsidiary of Canada’s First Quantum Minerals Limited, is the largest private investment in the history of Panama. It employs thousands and accounts, directly and indirectly, for some three per cent of Panama’s gross domestic product.

Panama expects to receive US$375 million per year in royalty, tax or transfer payments under the new deal, President Laurentino Cortizo’s office said in a statement.

That would be 10 times more than the payments under the old deal, which was signed in the late 1990s. The agreement can be extended for another 20 years.