Tesla, New York agree on direct sales

New BlackBerry CEO John Chen posted a smaller loss than analysts had been expecting. New BlackBerry CEO John Chen posted a smaller loss than analysts had been expecting. Photo: Mark Blinch, Reuters Photo: Mark Blinch, Reuters Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Tesla, New York agree on direct sales 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

AUTOMAKERS

Tesla, N.Y. agree on direct sales

Tesla Motors Inc. and New York auto dealer lobbying groups reached an agreement that allows the electric-car maker to keep its five company-owned stores in the state and add others, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday.

"Today's agreement reaffirms New York's long-standing commitment to the dealer franchise system, while making sure New York remains a leader in spurring innovative businesses and encouraging zero emissions vehicle sales," Cuomo said in a statement. Legislation in New York will be introduced "in the near future" to implement the agreement, said Cuomo. He didn't say how many other stores would be added.

The New York agreement comes less than two weeks after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie barred Tesla from selling cars directly to consumers at its two stores in that state.

Tesla is battling dealers state by state for the right to sell its cars directly to consumers. It reached a similar agreement this week in Ohio.

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GM expands small-car recall

General Motors Corp. is expanding the recall of small-car ignition switches by 971,000 vehicles worldwide to cover vehicles that may have received faulty replacement parts.

The recall brings the total to 2.59 million small cars and now includes Chevrolet Cobalts and Pontiac G5s, Pontiac Solstices, Saturn Ions and Saturn Skys for model years 2008 through 2010, and Chevrolet HHRs for years 2008 through 2011, Jim Cain, a GM spokesman, said. The expanded recall comes on top of 1.62 million cars recalled last month for faulty ignition switches linked to the deaths of 12 people.

No deaths or injuries have been associated with the newly recalled models, Cain said.

The automaker also told dealers to stop selling about 21,000 Chevrolet Cruze compact cars from the 2013 and 2014 model years, but won't say why.

The order covers about one-third of the Cruzes on dealer lots across the nation.

EARNINGS

BlackBerry sees its profit slide

BlackBerry reported a steep drop in profit and revenue Friday as it transitions from a smartphone company to a software business under its new chief executive officer, John Chen.

The company lost $423 million (80 cents per share). Adjusted for one-time items, however, the company lost 8 cents per share, much better than the losses of 56 cents per share that Wall Street had expected.

Revenue fell to $976 million, the first time the company has seen revenue fall below $1 billion since late 2007, and short of the $1.1 billion that analysts had projected.

Chen is de-emphasizing the hardware business after last year's introduction of the BlackBerry 10 failed to spark a turnaround.

"The guy is on the move fast," said Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners. "He can control expenses, but you can't magically make revenue happen."

Chen, who is credited with turning around Sybase, a data company that was sold to SAP in 2010, is putting more emphasis on BlackBerry's mobile-device management business and the popular BlackBerry Messenger application that is now also available on Apple and Android devices.

"I see this as a good turnaround plan," Chen said on a conference call with analysts. "Knock on wood, I'm hoping that it will also slow down the erosion."

CRIME

3 more charged in Libor rigging

Britain's Serious Fraud Office is charging three former employees of broker ICAP PLC in the scandal related to the rigging of a key market interest rate.

Criminal proceedings began Friday against Danny Martin Wilkinson, Darrell Paul Read and Colin John Goodman in the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor.

The fraud office said the charges against the brokers stemmed from alleged manipulation of the Yen Libor, the Japanese yen version of the benchmark rate. It alleges they conspired to defraud between Aug. 8, 2006 and Sept. 7, 2010.

Westminster Magistrates' Court will hear pleas on April 15.

With Friday's action, nine people have been implicated in the investigation of Libor, the rate used by banks to borrow from each other. The influential benchmark indirectly affects the cost of loans throughout the economy.

U.S. and British regulators have been working together on Libor prosecutions.

GOVERNANCE

Hayes leaving Yahoo board

Yahoo Inc. director John Hayes, who joined the company amid upheaval within the board in 2012, won't seek re-election at the shareholder meeting in June.

Hayes, who is chief marketing officer at American Express Co., said he was unable to bring the time and focus required to the position, given his duties at the credit card company, Yahoo said. He was one of three directors who joined the board amid a clash with investor Dan Loeb's Third Point LLC almost two years ago.