Business Digest

Chrysler to reinstate some fired dealers

DETROIT

Chrysler is offering to reinstate some of its 789 terminated dealers, reversing its hard-line policy in the face of a slow and costly arbitration process that could have distracted the company from its turnaround plan.

“I’ve heard the arbitration process has been far more frustrating both for the terminated dealers and the companies than anyone expected,” said Chuck Eddy, an Austintown dealer who leads the Chrysler dealer council. His dealership was not terminated.

One source familiar with the lobbying efforts of the rejected dealers said he had heard that between 86 and 96 could be reinstated.

Breakfast at Subway

CHICAGO

Subway is joining the increasingly crowded breakfast scramble in a move that the sandwich chain hopes will help add customers and sales.

After years of testing, almost all of Subway’s 23,000 U.S. restaurants will begin selling the meal April 5. When they do, the nation’s largest restaurant chain by number of outlets will be a big player in the breakfast game.

Best Buy: 37% profit

NEW YORK

Even in a weak economy, Americans increasingly feel that gadgets such as smart phones aren’t luxuries but necessities.

That shift has helped electronics sales weather the recession better than some other categories and helped Best Buy post a strong fourth-quarter profit Thursday on a steep sales increase fueled by flat-panel TVs, notebook computers and wireless gadgets. Best Buy’s profit rose 37 percent, and its revenue grew 12 percent to $16.55 billion.

Consolidation sought for Toyota lawsuits

SAN DIEGO

Attorneys for Toyota Motor Corp. and people suing the Japanese automaker over sudden-acceleration problems urged a federal panel Thursday to consolidate more than 200 lawsuits before a single judge, with Los Angeles federal court emerging as the favored venue.

Toyota’s lead lawyer, Cari Dawson of Atlanta, told the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation that the company favors combining all personal injury and wrongful-death cases before the California court, along with all potential class-action lawsuits.

GM to repay $1.2B

DETROIT

General Motors Corp. says it will make an additional $1.2 billion in loan repayments to the U.S. and Canadian governments by the end of this month. It will be the company’s second quarterly payment on $6.7 billion in loans from the U.S. government and $1.4 billion owed to the Canadian and Ontario governments.

New jobless claims drop to low levels

WASHINGTON

New claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week as layoffs ease and hiring slowly recovers. The decline brought the four-week average of claims, which smooths volatility, to its lowest level since September 2008, when the financial crisis intensified. The report is an encouraging sign that the economy is getting closer to generating job gains, economists said.