February 2009 Archives

If the Northrop team wins, the project will be based in El Segundo. But no matter who wins, thousands of jobs will come to Southern California.

McCain doesn't want tanker contract split between Boeing and Northrop

(Bloomberg News) The new competition between Boeing and Northrop Grumman-EADS to build an aerial refueling tanker for the U.S. Air Force should remain a winner-take-all contest, Sen. John McCain said Friday.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has rejected dividing the contract, "and I have too," said McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The tanker program has been delayed for years. Los Angeles-based Northrop and Airbus parent European Aeronautic, Defence & Space won a contract valued at $35 billion in February 2008; losing bidder Boeing successfully protested the award.

McCain's remarks were in reaction to a suggestion by some House members, including Rep. John Murtha, chairman of a House panel on military spending, that the award be split as a way to prevent the losing competitor from again protesting the decision to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Read the whole story.

South Bay home prices continue downward slide

South Bay home prices plunged in January to a level not seen for nearly five years.

The median price of an area home was $477,500 last month, according to a report released Thursday by the Los Angeles-based California Association of Realtors.

Read the whole story.

In today's installment of Business Casual.

People constantly interrupt my train of thought to ask a question or pitch a story.

Read the whole column.

South Bay home prices plunged in January to a level not seen for nearly five years.

The median price of an area home was $477,500 in January, according to a report released Thursday by the California Association of Realtors.

The median is the middle figure in which half of homes sold for more and half for less.

The last time the South Bay saw a median home price lower than last month's figure was in February 2004 as prices were on a furious upswing.

January's median price was 19.5 percent less than a year earlier, a milder annual drop than December of last year when the decline was 22.4 percent.

California peaked later than the nation as a whole, so the Golden State may take longer to find a bottom.

U.S. housing market bottom may be a year away: Case

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. housing market slump is nowhere near over and home prices will probably keep falling well into next year, one of the property market's best-known economists said.

Karl Case, the co-developer of a widely watched gauge of the housing industry, told Reuters that the hard-hit U.S. housing market has gone from being the primary source of the U.S. economic recession to one of its biggest casualties.

"Never say never, but it is looking increasingly probable that we will not see a housing market bottom until next year," said Case, an economics professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

Read the whole story.

DaVita Inc., the El Segundo-based provider of kidney dialysis services, said it was the No. 1 ranked health care service provider for its employee training programs, according to Training Magazine's Top 125 last week.

The company was ranked No. 58 overall, nearly 20 seats above its previous ranking in 2008.

This is the fifth straight year Training Magazine has ranked DaVita on its Top 125 list of companies for employer-sponsored workforce training and development.

How often does this happen. Renting a ship may make sense for storage, but it just attracts a lot of bad publicity.

Toyota rents ship for unsold cars

MALMO, Sweden, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Toyota Motor Co. said it had taken the telling step of renting a ship in Malmo, Sweden, to store cars it cannot sell due to the poor economy.

On-land storage for unsold Toyotas in the area has hit the limit of 12,000 vehicles, the EU Observer reported Wednesday.

"Our vehicle logistics center in Malmo had reached a maximum capacity as core sales in the region have decreased recently," Toyota said.

To deal with the unsold inventory, Toyota has rented a ship owned by transport firm Wallenius Wilhelmsen, so it can nest 2,500 unsold cars on board, the Observers said.

Read the whole story.

Thi will be the first time product is below 7 million in five years.

Despite all the bad news from Toyota, it's even sadder that GM, Ford and Chrysler would love to be in Toyota's shoes because The Big 3's pains are even worse.

With talk of nationalizing banks in the US, is it time to consider nationalizing the Detroit Big 3? And I don't mean the US government. Maybe the Japanese government should nationalize our auto industry. They've done a better job of making and selling cars than we have. (Please excuse the hyperbole.)

Toyota's 2009 output to drop to 6.5 mln units

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Toyota Motor Corp. plans to produce 6.5 million vehicles this year, down 20% from 8.21 million in 2008 and below the 7-million mark for the first time in five years, according to a published report.

Depending on how the industry fares, Toyota may be forced to further rein in output, Japanese business daily Nikkei said on its Web site in a report dated Monday.

Earlier this month, Toyota said it will reduce production at its North American manufacturing plants in an effort to grapple with what the Japanese automaker termed "the worst automotive slump in decades."

Read the whole story.

If gas prices stay low, I predict that Toyota will push back the launch date.

Toyota to launch pure electric car in U.S. by 2012

DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp said it would launch an all-electric car for city commuting by 2012 in the United States as part of its plan to speed up the introduction of green cars as its global sales falter.

The FT-EV concept made its debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit Sunday, where the world's top automaker is also unveiling two new gasoline-electric hybrid cars.

The FT-EV concept shares a platform with the tiny iQ urban commuter car, which runs on a gasoline engine and emits just 99 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer.

Read the whole story.

Yes, I go to bat for this woman in today's Business Casual column. But not because I think having 14 kids is necessarily a great idea.

Suleman bears sins of recession

(Business Casual) Thank goodness for Nadya Suleman.

Last month, the Whittier resident gave birth to eight very tiny babies, just in time to help us forget about America's many huge economic troubles.

Read the whole column.

Here's a teaser for Friday's column:

Thank goodness for Nadya Suleman.

Hybrid sales will suffer from the drop in gas prices.

TOKYO (Asia In Focus via COMTEX) -- HONDA MOTOR CO. announced Wednesday that by the end of January it had sold more than 300,000 hybrid vehicles worldwide, reaching the milestone less than 10 years after introducing its Insight hybrid domestically in November 1999. The automaker reported that cumulative worldwide sales of hybrid vehicles stood at 300,740 as of January 31.

Read the whole story.

Does this mean the stimulus package's $287 billion in tax cuts was a waste of time?

Tax cuts may heighten deflation risks - NY Fed study

(Reuters) - Cutting taxes to try to stimulate the economy could do more harm than good in a zero interest rate environment as it can heighten the risk of deflation, according to a recent New York Federal Reserve study.

Policies that are aimed at increasing the supply of goods can be counterproductive when the main problem is insufficient demand, New York Fed economist Gauti Eggertsson said in a research paper entitled "Can tax cuts deepen the recession?"

"The emphasis should be on policies that stimulate spending," Eggertsson said, adding that his research found the impact of tax cuts is "fundamentally different" with interest rates near zero.

Read the whole story.

Honda may outrun the recession, but Toyota will come out on top after the global downturn is over.

Honda may outrun the recession

(BloggingStocks.com) No large car company is going to do well as the global recession deepens. But the one best positioned to move through the tough period is Honda. It did not go through the global factory expansion that has stretched Toyota's resources. It builds small, quality, fuel-efficient cars that have gained more and more market share in almost ever major country.

Read the whole story.

59% of California households could afford to buy an entry-level home in the state in the fourth quarter of 2008, up from 33% a year earlier, according to the LA-based California Association of Realtors.

The minimum household income needed to buy an entry-level California home at $248,030 was $48,900 in the October-to-December period.

That calculation is based on an adjustable interest rate mortgage of 6.02 percent and assuming a 10 percent down payment.

First-time buyers typically purchase a home equal to 85 percent of the prevailing median price. The monthly payment including taxes and insurance was $1,630 for the fourth quarter of 2008.

Northrop Grumman Corp. delivered a scientific satellite to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida after it was developed at the company's Space Park facility in Redondo Beach.

The satellite known as LCROSS, for Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, will be launched on an Atlas V rocket this spring.

LCROSS will crash into the lunar surface in search of water ice or hydrated minerals that could sustain human habitation as NASA plans to create permanent lunar bases.

Following national and statewide trends, Los Angeles County will feel "more intense pain" for 2009 as the recession drags on, according to a forecast to be released today.

The county's total nonfarm employment will lose 89,000 jobs this year, a drop of 2.2 percent compared to 2008, according to the the study by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

As a result, the county's unemployment rate will average 9.8 percent in 2009, up from 7.1 percent last year.

County unemployment will continue to rise to an average of 10.6 percent next year, the study says.

"We are in a very, very major bind, and it's going to be tough to dig our way out of this," said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the LAEDC.

The biggest job losses will come in retailing, with a decline of 25,000 positions.
Manufacturing and construction job losses also will impact the economy with drops of 21,000 and 18,000, respectively.

Government agencies will cut another 5,000 jobs because of budget cuts.

County job losses will continue into 2010, with another 34,900 nonfarm positions cut, or a 0.9 percent decline, the study says.

This may be a good time to rethink the whole biofuel craze.

Biofuels may speed up, not slow global warming: study

(physorg.com) Once heralded as the answer to oil, biofuels have become increasingly controversial because of their impact on food prices and the amount of energy it takes to produce them.

They could also be responsible for pumping far more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than they could possibly save as a replacement for fossil fuels, according to a study released Saturday.

Read the whole story.

In today's Business Casual column.

Dear President Obama,

I wish to add a critical item to the economic stimulus plan:

DaVita Inc., the El Segundo-based provider of kidney dialysis centers, announced on Thursday the launch of a calculator application on the Apple iPhone to measure kidney function.

The DaVita Glomerular Filtration Rate Calculator for the iPhone and iPod Touch will be available in more than 50 countries. The application measures kidney function by calculating a patient's age, serum creatinine level, gender and race.

The calculator is available at www.DaVita.com.

Work-sharing means fewer job cuts, but also fewer hours worked per employee. This will further hurt consumer spending.

Toyota to move to work-sharing in U.S., UK-Nikkei

DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp will introduce work-sharing arrangements at its assembly plants in the United States and Britain to retain jobs after production cuts at these facilities, The Nikkei said on Thursday.

Toyota plans to begin the work-sharing arrangements at its factories in Indiana and Texas in the United States as well as plants in U.K., including a facility in the Derbyshire that assembles midsize cars and subcompacts, the Japanese business daily said.

Toyota workers who do not accept the work-sharing arrangement, which is expected to begin by the end of the month, will be allowed to apply for early retirement, Nikkei said.

These are the preliminary unemployment rates for December 2008, according to
the California Employment Development Department.

You'll notice that, like with the real estate market, the inland areas are hit harder than the beach cities.

- El Segundo: 4.4%
- Gardena: 8.9%
- Hawthorne: 12.5%
- Hermosa Beach: 4.0%
- Inglewood: 12.0%
- Lawndale: 9.5%
- Lennox: 12.1%
- Lomita: 6.5%
- Long Beach: 10.5%
- Los Angeles city: 10.5%
- Los Angeles County: 9.5%
- Manhattan Beach: 3.3%
- Marina del Rey: 4.9%
- Palos Verdes Estates: 1.9%
- Rancho Palos Verdes: 3.2%
- Redondo Beach: 5.0%
- Rolling Hills: 0.9%
- Rolling Hills Estates: 2.5%
- Torrance: 4.7%

The El Segundo Chamber of Commerce installed a new president, Lily Craig, who works in community relations for the Chevron refinery in that city.

Craig takes over from outgoing president Jim Hart, who works in communications at Northrop Grumman in El Segundo.

Lily Craig has participated in the chamber for 16 years, having served on the board of directors for most of that time. She also served as chairwoman of the Program Development Committee and ran the Richmond Street Festival.

Craid moved to the United States at age 6 on the Fourth of July from her native Damascus, Syria. She grew up in Hawthorne and moved to El Segundo in 1989.

Craig started with Chevron in 1982 as a parts runner in the refinery's maintenance division.

A team led by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. received a $75 million, six-month extension to an earlier U.S. Air Force contract to continue developing designs for a next-generation military satellite constellation.

The satellite system, known as the Transformational Satellite Communications System, or TSAT, is expected to dramatically improve the military's communications system by allowing much faster Internet-like linkups worldwide, including on the battlefield.

Northrop's share of the work is occurring in Redondo Beach.

A team led by Boeing Co. received a similar extension contract for a competing version of the TSAT.

This is helpful.

BOSTON (AP) -- While it may be more Main Street-friendly than last fall's initial bailout, don't expect the financial relief overhaul announced Tuesday to be an equal-opportunity plan.

If you've got a decent credit score, expect borrowing options to grow soon, says
Nariman Behravesh, chief economist with the Lexington, Mass.-based research company IHS Global Insight. But don't hold your breath if your rating is nothing to write home
about.

In an interview, Behravesh discussed his expectations for a plan that includes a
projected $1 trillion partnership between the government and private investors to
unclog credit markets. He expects interest rates for a range of consumer loans will
decline, much as mortgage rates hit historic lows weeks after the Federal Reserve
announced plans in late November to buy up to $500 billion in mortgage-backed
securities.

Here are excerpts from the interview:

Q: What do you think the revised federal bailout will offer folks on Main Street?
A: Interest rates will come down, credit conditions will ease. The operative term here
is "those who qualify." Whether it's for mortgages or car loans or whatever, if your
credit score is good, then I think it will be easier for you. If it's not, that is not
going to change things too much for the families and small businesses whose credit
scores and records are poor. That will take longer.

Q: Why won't the benefits also reach people with lower credit scores -- say in subprime
territory of 600 or lower?
A: Because companies that might now be willing to extend credit to people with decent
scores are still too reluctant to extend it those with lower scores. The pendulum has
swung in terms of caution. You might get some people with a middling credit score to do
OK. But for people who don't have good scores, it will continue to be tough to borrow,
at least for another year.

Q: What will need to happen before people with lower scores see more credit flow their
way?
A: Better economic times. That is the reality.

Q: How might the government's plan to buy so-called toxic assets from banks trickle
down to benefit consumers?
A: As long as these toxic assets remain on balance sheets, banks are very worried that
their asset liability position is very vulnerable, and that they could potentially
become insolvent -- especially if the value of these toxic assets gets clobbered again
by the markets. As long as these toxic assets remain on balance sheets, banks are very
reluctant to make new loans and add to their liabilities -- regardless of how good the
loans are.
But if you can get them off balance sheets, then they are much more willing to lend,
and credit really begins to flow. The first part of TARP (the Troubled Asset Relief
Program) did nothing to encourage new lending. The capital put into the banking system
essentially just went nowhere, because the banks just sat on it because they were
worried about their balance sheets.

Robinson Helicopter Co. broke its annual production record last year despite the recession.

The Torrance-based firm, the world's largest maker of civilian helicopters, built 893 new aircraft in 2008.

That was up from the previous record of 823 in 2007.

Last year's record production pace came as a result of a "large backlog" of orders coming into the year, said Kurt Robinson, vice president of product support.

If you have a crush on someone you work with, then you're not alone.

A CareerBuilder.com Valentine's Day survey found that four in 10 workers said they have dated a co-worker at some point in their careers, with 18 percent admitting to doing it twice or more. And more than three in 10 said they went on to marry the person they dated at work.

The survey of 8,000 workers also says that "office courtships may be stemming from current workplace crushes." One in 10 workers currently work with someone they would like to date, and more men (14%) than women (5%) said they would like to do so.

Malaga Financial Corp., the Palos Verdes Estates-based parent of Malaga Bank, reported profit for the fourth quarter of a record $1,931,000, up 30 percent compared to the same period a year earlier.

Profit for the year ended Dec. 31 was $7,077,000, up 19 percent compared to 2007.

Profit rose mainly because of a $3,270,000 increase in net interest income from continued growth in interest-earning assets and an improvement in interest rate spread.

The Torrance City Council honored American Honda Motor Co. and its architect Withee Malcolm Architects for the "green" design of the Acura Design Studio. Both companies are located in Torrance.

The Green Pride in Torrance Awards "recognize residents and businesses who go the extra mile in showing their concern for the environment and helping to make Torrance a better and greener city."

The design center's features include:

- a high-efficiency displacement ventilation system

- dual paned low-e glass in the exterior windows, designed to reduce the amount of solar heat gain in the building

- recycle and reuse choices such as the use of building materials with recycled content, and the use of the reclaimed water brought to the Campus by West Basin Municipal Water District for irrigation and water closets;

- quality of life design decisions such as the monitoring of carbon dioxide levels within the building, improving indoor air quality by reducing the use of contaminants in paints, adhesives, carpets, etc.; and providing a connection between indoor spaces and the outdoors through daylighting and views.

This will hurt parts suppliers in the South Bay.

Boeing's top customer predicts big production cuts

(Seattle Times) Two aviation-industry billionaires had tough messages for Boeing workers at a reception before an airplane delivery at Boeing Field in Seattle Friday morning.

Steve Udvar-Hazy, chief executive of Boeing's largest customer, predicted that both Boeing and Airbus will sharply reduce their output in the coming months.

Hazy said jet production could drop by a third in the next 18 months. That would inevitably mean layoffs of blue-collar workers locally.

Hazy, chairman and CEO of International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC), makes huge deals with both the big jet manufacturers and the airlines. ILFC owns the world's largest wide-body fleet and has 74 Boeing 787 Dreamliners on order. He's in a unique position to assess the true state of the aviation business.

Read the whole story.

Scott A. Anderson, senior economist at Wells Fargo Economics, today gave the following pessimistic appraisal:

The U.S. labor market is far weaker than today's headlines suggest, prompting another forecast downgrade of GDP and payrolls for 2009. Economic growth is unlikely before Q4 2009, and the unemployment rate is likely to hit 9.0 percent before year-end. Check this week's FMS to find out what this "stinker" of a January payroll report means for the outlook and the security of your job.

It is said that chocolate is a replacement for men. But give me a break.

Read the Business Casual column.

International Rectifier Corp., the El Segundo-based chip maker, said Thursday that it will cut about 18 percent of its worldwide workforce, or about 850 jobs.

The cuts will include an R&D facility in El Segundo that employs about 70 people, as well as an unspecified number of administrative staff at the headquarters, a company spokesman said.

The layoffs are scheduled to be completed by the end of the firm's 2009 fiscal year on June 30.

At the beginning of this fiscal year, IR -- as the firm is known -- employed about 4,500 people worldwide with roughly 600 in El Segundo.

The company announced the cuts as it reported a dismal performance in its second fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31.

The number of foreclosures in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale area for December was is 21,253, according to First American CoreLogic, which tracks this statistic.

The rate of foreclosures among outstanding mortgage loans was 1.8% for December, an increase of 0.6 percentage points compared to December of 2007.

That is higher than the national average in December, which was 1.7 percent.

Boeing's El Segundo satellite facility said that it shipped its second Wideband Global SATCOM satellite to Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida, where it will be readied for a March launch.

Known as WGS-2, the satellite is the second in a series of new, high-capacity military communications satellites used by the Air Force. When the constellation is complete, the Air Force will have six of these satellites.

The WGS satellites eventually will replace the Defense Satellite Communication System and the Global Broadcast Service function currently used by the Air Force.

And Mattel hopes to use this anniversary to sell more Barbies. With a little sentimentalism, you can sell almost anything.

Mattel hopes Barbie's 50th resonates with three generations

(PR WEEK) Mattel has launched an integrated marketing campaign to promote Barbie as a symbol of fashion and pop culture on the eve of her 50th anniversary this March. The PR team aims to reach three generations of consumers and ultimately impact sales via partnerships, events, and online communications. Although the anniversary takes place March 9, the campaign is ongoing throughout the year.

Read the whole story.

On Tuesday, Toyota employees in Torrance distributed $2.67 million in donations between six charities.

The employees raised the money through the 2008 Toyota Charitable Contribution Campaign last October.

The charities that benefited are:

- American Cancer Society
- American Heart Association
- American Red Cross
- March of Dimes
- Toyota Matching Gifts to Education (schools in the South Bay and beyond)
- Community Health Charities

Storm Properties Inc., a Torrance area developer, said it will soon complete the second phase of its project of 18 industrial buildings.

The three buildings in this phase account for 175,500 square feet of Class A industrial space in Harbor Gateway. Storm Properties hopes the development's proximity to LA and Long Beach harbors will attract tenants despite the weakening industrial real estate market.

When completed, the entire project will total 700,000 square feet of industrial space.

Maybe the new exec can turn things around, though the probably is the economy more than personnel.

Honda N. American sales exec Colliver steps down (AP) American Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday John Mendel will take over the automaker's top North American executive position, replacing Richard Colliver as executive vice president of auto sales.

Colliver, who joined Honda in 1993 as senior VP of the Honda Automobile division and who has led the Honda and Acura divisions for more than a decade, will become a senior adviser to the company. He will provide strategic counsel and support to American Honda's dealer body and management team.

Mendel joined Honda in 2004 and has been executive vice president of auto operations since 2007. He will be succeeded in that post by Takashi Sekiguchi, who has served as executive vice president of corporate affairs and product planning since 2008.

Not even powerhouses like Toyota and Honda can avoid the pain from the recession and credit crunch.

(AP) Japanese rival Toyota's sales dropped 32 percent for the month, and Honda's sales fell 28 percent.

Toyota sold 117,287 cars and trucks.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s sales of light trucks fell 35 percent on about equal declines in SUV and pickup truck demand, while its car sales dropped 29 percent. Sales of its Prius hybrid slid 29 percent.

Honda Motor Co.'s car sales fell 27 percent and its truck sales dropped 29 percent, but the Japanese automaker saw a 6 percent increase in sales of its Fit subcompact, and sales of the updated Acura TSX sports sedan rose 16 percent.

The headquarters of Toyota's U.S. sales and marketing division and Honda's US operations are based in Torrance.

Like oil companies, aerospace firms have been very profitable in recent years. But times have changed. And if Obama pulls out of Iraq and doesn't launch any new wars, then aerospace firms will have to start focusing more on the commercial/scientific contracts.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp., which has major operations in the South Bay, on Tuesday posted a fourth-quarter loss, hurt by a large charge as it wrote down the value of past acquisitions in its shipbuilding and space operations.

The maker of military aircraft and ships said it posted a loss of $2.54 billion, or $7.76 per share, in the latest quarter. That compared with a profit of $457 million, or $1.32 per share, in the same period last year.

Results included an expected $3.06 billion charge for goodwill impairment. That means accounting rules forced the company to lower the value of the acquisitions because it had overestimated their worth. Given the recent decline in market value, the book value of Northrop's acquisitions of Litton Industries Inc. and TRW Inc. were priced too high.

Excluding the charge, Northrop earned $524 million, or $1.57 per share in line with Thomson Reuters forecast of $1.55 per share.

Shares of Northrop Grumman climbed 66 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $47.27 in early morning trade.

This will be a bigger deals when gas goes above $3 again.

Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid Averages 65 mpg

(Automobilemag.com) A fleet of Toyota Prius plug-in (PHEV) hybrid prototypes have been roaming the streets in an attempt to gather real life test data. Toyota says these PHEV test models have so far returned an average of 65 mpg. That is an increase of 15 mpg compared to the estimated 50 mpg for the 2010 Toyota Prius.

The news comes from Bill Reinert, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A.'s national alternative-fuel vehicle manager. Reinert says that the mpg comes from "real-world driving." He tells the vehicle testers to drive the PHEVs as they would drive a normal Prius.

Reinert said the fuel economy for the vehicle depends on the battery pack's capacity and how it is driven. In other words the fuel economy varies inversely with the application of one's right foot. "That difference is just magnified, supercharged, turbocharged with a plug-in electric because how fast you go really pulls the current out of the battery. It is a big deal."

The U.S. will get 150 Prius PHEVs late this year. The cars will be used for research and testing by universities, commercial fleets and individuals to evaluate real-world customer use and acceptance.

Honda and Toyota's cutbacks are incredibly mild compared to those of GM, Ford and Chrysler. Detroit's Big Three have a steep learning curve ahead of them when it comes to carmaking.

Honda to cut managers' wages by 5% for 4 months

(Kyodo News International Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Feb. 2--TOKYO -- Honda Motor Co. said Monday it will cut basic wages of employees in managerial posts around 5 percent from February to May in the wake of bleak earnings amid a global auto slump and the yen's appreciation.

The move will affect about 4,800 employees at Honda group companies.

On Friday, Japan's second-largest automaker lowered its earnings projection for the fiscal year to March 31 for the fourth time, saying it expects a group net profit of 80 billion yen, rather than 185 billion yen projected a month earlier.

It's nice to know that Toyota's top management will share in the pain like the little people on the bottom.

Toyota to Cut Pay for Executives as Sales Slump, Nikkei Says

(Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp., the world's second-largest automaker, will cut salaries for its executives, the Nikkei newspaper reported.

The automaker hasn't decided when and by how much it will lower compensation, the paper said without saying where it obtained the information.

Toyota already announced plans in December to skip bonuses for board members. The carmaker is forecasting its first loss in 71 years as a stronger yen and sales slump squeeze profits.