Business digest || CNN fires top US executive

CNN fires top US executive

NEW YORK

CNN’s continued struggles with its prime-time lineup led to the firing Friday of Jon Klein, the U.S. network’s top executive, less than two weeks before a schedule revamp he engineered was about to launch.

Klein has been replaced by Ken Jautz, who runs HLN, said Jim Walton, CNN Worldwide President. CNN also is seeking another executive who will serve as executive vice president and managing editor of CNN Worldwide.

CNN slipped behind MSNBC into third place this year in its prime-time ratings, where Fox News Channel remains a dominant No. 1.

BP works on its own oil-spill estimate

NEW ORLEANS

Oil giant BP is working behind the scenes to formulate its own estimate for how much crude spewed from its well in the Gulf of Mexico as it prepares for a potential legal fight with the U.S. government over fines.

The company has carefully avoided accepting the government’s estimate that 206 million gallons of oil was released by the well after the April 20 explosion aboard an offshore drilling rig.

BP also has been preoccupied by the effort to kill the well. A spokesman tells The Associated Press now the company is reviewing data and will develop its own estimate.

Court lets Chevron remove activists

LONDON

Oil company Chevron said Friday a Scottish court granted it an order to remove Greenpeace campaigners who are occupying an oil drill operated by the company off the Shetland Islands.

Two Greenpeace activists had climbed up the 748-foot Stena Carron drill ship in an attempt to stop it from drilling a well in the deep waters of the North Sea. The environmental group said the protest, which started Tuesday, blocked the ship from moving to its drill site by attaching their tent to the drill ship’s anchor chain.

The injunction obtained by Chevron from an Edinburgh court means the activists must either come down or face fines or jail sentences. Greenpeace said it had no option but to abort the protest.

Judge ready to OK Citigroup settlement

WASHINGTON

A federal judge said Friday that she plans to approve the government’s $75 million settlement with Citigroup Inc. over charges it misled investors about billions in potential losses from subprime mortgages.

U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle said she first wants assurances that Citigroup will maintain new policies it adopted to ensure it will avoid such violations in the future. Citigroup and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which brought the charges, agreed to add such assurances to the settlement.

The SEC had accused Citigroup of making misleading statements about its holdings tied to high-risk mortgages. Citigroup had said it was $13 billion or less; the SEC said it exceeded $50 billion.

Associated Press